Crosswalk fitted outside the Marriott hotel
NRA staff work on new crosswalk on West Bay Road
(CNS): Workers from the National Roads Authority were in the process of erecting a new crosswalk outside the Marriott Hotel Tuesday at one of Grand Cayman’s road black spots. The new West Bay Road crossing comes ahead of a much-anticipated speed reduction on that road in a few weeks. The area has been the scene of a number of crashes and most recently a teenage visitor narrowly escaped with his life when he was hit by a local bus as he tried to cross the road.
Harrison Zierenberg (17) from Virginia was on holiday here with his family when he was struck in the head by the wing mirror of the bus in April and suffered brain damage. Although he cannot yet walk, he is understood to be making considerable progress and has been returned to his home state and local hospital.
Police arrested the 56-year-old driver of the bus at the time of the incident but no charges have yet been brought in the case. CNS has contacted the RCIPS to establish the state of the investigation and is awaiting a response.
Category: development, Local News
This bit of road needs better lighting! Yes, reducing the speed limit makes sense. Yes, having a cross walk (that not everyone will use but it’s a start) will help but the lighting is SO awful that accidents will continue to happen.
Changing the speed limit will not change anything. Putting a crosswalk will not stop people from getting hit if they are stupid either.
The law of inertia cannot change with a sign, light or law. People have to look both ways and if you see a bus, truck or larger vehicle WAIT till it passes. The boy got hit by a mirror. How did he miss seeing a van? He didn’t look both ways.
There are no laws for jaywalking, why? All day long people cross through police barriers. They cross streets in town and see the only way to reach the other side is to stop traffic. We have traffic police lets use them.
You can place all the crosswalks you want. The problem will then be getting people to use them. So often I see people attempting to cross the road within 50 feet of the crosswalk. Their just not smart enough to use it. Dogs on this island however are smarter than people when crossing traffic.
I think it would be helpful if they posted a “look right” or “look left” with arrows on the sidewalk for tourists at major crossing points as a reminder which way traffic will be coming at them from.
What about a sign that says look “right and look left” at every crosswalk .
As pretty as these yellow lines and lovely flashing lights are they’re absolutely pointless until they put an island in the middle lane to stop all the idiots using it to overtake
We’ve tried that – it doesn’t work. Eventually someone plows through the whole thing.
Tough on the idiots who drive into it. I have seen buses on West Bay Road overtake by moving out across the middle lane into the oncoming traffic lane.
Just a matter of time until some poor soul is mown down by a drunk idiot in a truck or SUV driving back to West Bay.
I drove through the area (thursday morning) just before reading this. I did not notice this crosswalk at all. Signage warning drivers of NEW crosswalk are really needed.
Agreed but we are still waiting for the signage for the Waterfront Centre crossing. Guess someone will have to die there before that appears.
When on earth will they drop the speed limit on West Bay Road … soon come I suppose?
About time!