A graphic video of crashes on Bermuda’s roads was played at a press conference yesterday to try to drive home the issue of road safety.

The event — presented by government and police representatives — came with the beginning of UN Global Road Safety Week.

This year’s initiative — Save Lives: #SlowDown — runs until Saturday, with the week themed: “Slow Down — Save Lives”.

Inspector Robert Cardwell, with the Bermuda Police Service, said the montage of clips captured on the CCTV network was not to provide shock and awe, but to illustrate how speed and poor decisions contributed to collisions that were all avoidable.

In one of the clips, a sport utility vehicle is shown turning right in front of an oncoming motorcycle. The impact of the collision sends pieces of the shattered motorcycle into the air, and appears to send at least one person from the bike over the front of the vehicle.

In another clip, a rider is thrown on to the front of a right-turning vehicle, before falling to the road.

According to the inspector, over a number of years the island has recorded one road death per month, on average.

“Most of them involve alcohol, drugs, excessive speed, or inattention,” he said.

Senator Michael Fahy, Minister of Tourism, Transport and Municipalities, said “drastic changes” were needed to how road safety is perceived.

“Road safety is a community issue, and we all have a part to play,” he told the media.

With Bermuda’s small population, deaths and serious injuries impacted a large portion of the community.

“We all know of someone who has been lost to the roads,” the senator said.

Over a ten year-period, to 2016, 127 people died in road traffic deaths, Mr Fahy said, 93 per cent of whom were males.

Jeanne Atherden, Minister of Health and Seniors, said road traffic injuries and deaths in Bermuda constituted a “serious health problem”.

“Tragically, media reports have a familiar phrase: a male riding a motorcycle has died of his injuries,” Ms Atherden said.

“It’s a report we hear too often.

“We have to turn around and we have to say to our men we love you, we want to keep you,” the One Bermuda Alliance MP said.

“Let’s slow down, let’s all turn around, and understand that speed kills.”

The role road sobriety check and speed cameras can play in helping keep motorists safe were discussed.

“The government has already signalled an intention to explore roadside sobriety testing this year,” Mr Fahy said.

Ali Bardgett, chairman of the Bermuda Road Safety Council, said she would like to see a two-year graduated licensing programme “fully implemented”.

“Without that, then we will keep our wheels spinning,” she said.

“Without that real training in place, we can’t except to send our youth out onto 225 kilometres of roads, and navigate 47,000 vehicles, with no on-road training.”

The proposed programme would involve classroom training, bike safety, risk assessment, and even education on the mechanics of the motorcycle itself.

Diligent work is under way, Mr Fahy said, to produce a draft bill relating to graduated licensing.

Ms Bardgett said the “Piece of the Rock” campaign was in “full swing”, using social media across a variety of platforms.

“Somehow we have to reach the young people in Bermuda.”

Real change will take a collaborative effort, she said.

“The responsibility for making our roads safe does not entirely rest on the government, on ministers, on the police service — it’s on all of us.”