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The only way to cut down the number of cars in Bermuda is to upset people. That's why it hasn't been done so far, even though everybody has known for decades that it needs to be done.

This is a job that calls for a bull-headed leader, one who likes to make a firm decision first, and weigh the pros and cons afterwards.

It needs someone who is perfectly willing to infuriate voters. And therefore it needs a leader with such a comfortable and safe position that it doesn't really matter.

Which kind of makes Dr. Ewart Brown the man for the job. It's hard to imagine many other MPs being willing to sink their teeth into this issue, especially so close to an election.

As Dr. Brown put it, in a kind of understated way, "Not everybody is going to be happy about this."

But it needs to be done.

It is the right way for Dr. Brown to use his powerful position - pursuing important community goals that, because they require difficult individual sacrifices, are avoided by most politicians. This is vastly different than abusing a powerful position to pursue objectives that aren't shared by most voters.

Most voters unquestionably DO want less dangerous and less crowded roads, and greater use of public transportation.

It's just that none of us wants to be the one waiting at the bus stop in the rain, while everybody else drives by in an SUV.

It's a situation where a powerful leader can combine cajoling with cudgelling, to get people to make the sacrifices needed to achieve their own goals.

Tackling the island's traffic problems is a very important community goal.

To be successful, Dr. Brown needs to keep reminding the community on why it is important - on the consequences of doing nothing, which range from daily stress, personal injury and the slow destruction of our tourist trade to the direr, but less tangible, consequences of global warming.

Dr. Brown must keep convincing the community that its sacrifices will, in fact, really help Bermuda - that there is gain in return for the pain.

To be successful, Dr. Brown must convince the community that all of us are sharing in the sacrifices. And to be successful, Dr. Brown and his government must do all they can to make the sacrifices less onerous - to make it less painful to give up the unrestricted use of a car or a truck.

So far, most of Dr. Brown's proposals for tackling traffic have met these needs. Substantial improvements in bus and ferry services remove much of the inconvenience of having no car, for example, and often make it more attractive. It lessens the sacrifice he is asking people to make.

The right moves

Enforcing the "one car per household" rule is also eminently fair, as is requiring motorists to live at the same address at which their car is registered.

Dr. Brown is right to remove people from the road who shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

His proposal to impound unlicensed and uninsured vehicles, and vehicles driven by disqualified or uninsured drivers, should be supported. So should the long-awaited demerit point system, which would automatically ban drivers with too many infractions.

This should be backed up with more rigorous enforcement of traffic laws. Speed traps and drunk driving checkpoints should be far more common. Cameras to catch speeders and red-light-runners should be quickly introduced.

But Dr. Brown's plan to specifically limit the number of cars owned by international company workers needs to be quickly abandoned. It fails the "shared sacrifice" fairness test, and it is also extraordinarily bad for Bermuda's international business, its economy and its international image.

Which means it is bad for Bermudians, who are the most important beneficiaries of international business here.

Far better to persuade, or even compel, businesses - local and international - to organize bus or mini-van commuter services and car-pooling systems.

Far better to insist that the Bermuda Government itself - the island's largest employer - do the same thing. Far better, too, to require private schools - a major contributor to rush-hour traffic woes - to join in. To reduce the number of eligible drivers, it would be far fairer to simply raise the age limit, to 21 or 23 or 25 or 27, and apply it across the board.

That's fair because everyone is under age at some point. Fairer still might be to award drivers' licences on a points system. Points could be awarded for each reason you ought to have a car - being older, for example, or having several children, or a significant physical disability.

Finally, it is important for Dr. Brown to show that he and his fellow Cabinet Ministers are sharing in the sacrifice as well.

Nobody expects to see the Premier waiting at a bus stop every morning. But if the public could see change at the top - smaller cars, perhaps, or electric vehicles, or a handful of Cabinet Ministers toodling around on bikes - they would make their own sacrifices more willingly.

Dr. Brown is correct in his observation that there needs to be a culture change when it comes to cars in Bermuda, and he's right when he says it will take time to develop.

He's also right when he says that not everybody is going to he happy with the changes and restrictions he is determined to make.

The powerful position Dr. Brown enjoys right now is an unusual one in the world of politics, but like all things political it will fall away. Dr. Brown must press ahead, quickly and firmly, but fairly.[[In-content Ad]]

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