Cops drive home road safety message
Road crash (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)
(CNS): The police are ramping up their road safety message this year ahead of the Christmas anti-crime and road user enforcement campaign with a documentary about the impact of road crashes, as they urge drivers to slow down, pay attention and stop drinking and driving. Superintendent Angelique Howell, whose mother died in a road crash, reveals her own pain in the documentary, which will be aired Tuesday night on Cayman27. She told CNS that the number of deaths on the road this year (13 so far) was tragic.
She said this was a lot for such a small country and the highest in the Cayman Islands for many years, and she urged drivers to think much more about road safety.
Howell said that it was not for the want of trying on the part of the police as the RCIPS has carried out regular awareness and education campaigns about speeding, drinking and driving and people not paying attention because they are using their phones. “They’re just not listening” she said.
“As much as the police preach to people to slow down, to not drink and drive, it doesn’t appear people are taking heed but the consequences are very painful for those who lose loved ones on the road,” Howell added.
The seasonal enforcement campaign beings on 30 November. From then until the New Year police will be concentrating on safety and security in general but the first week is all about encouraging drivers to be safe on the roads, otherwise they will be ticketed or arrested.
Superintendent Howell, who has 27 years experience in the RCIPS, said the police can’t be on every road every day, so drivers must take responsibility for their own actions and driving. However, she urged others to call in bad driving when they see it and give the registration plates.
The main causes of the high number of fatal road crashes this year, which has included cyclists and pedestrian victims, were excessive speeding or drinking and driving, Howell said, and reminded drivers of the importance of wearing seat belts. Not wearing one won’t cause an accident but in a collision a seat belt could be the difference between minor injuries and being killed.
“We are also concerned about parents driving with children in the car that are not securely strapped in,” she said. “We see it all the time —children standing up in cars or hanging out of windows and not in safety seats or wearing seatbelts. We will be looking closely at that as the enforcement campaign begins and we will prosecute drivers.”
The documentary ‘Road Impact: Cayman Islands’ airs on 24 November at 6:30pm on Cayman27 and again on Thursday. It is also expected to be posted on YouTube.
Check back to CNS for more about the police anti-crime Christmas campaign tomorrow.
Where do I send a photo/video of a traffic violation? What is going to happen to the offender?
I think it would be a good idea to have some night buses. This works well in other places.
Better yet: know yourself, plan ahead, leave car at home before the evening’s drinking campaign begins.
or….. just have some night busses!!!!!
Police turn a blind eye to so many road traffic offenses, no plates, blacked out windows, poor driving, unsafe loads, tyres, you name it, please don’t preach to me 911
Did someone just say “Drivers Education”? Does CIG Education Dept Ministry have any concept of what Drivers Education entails?
Superintendent Howell urges the public to call in bad driving, but what does she advise me to do, when the offending car has no license plate on the front and the rear one is unreadable through a tinted cover? And what should I do when a Rice Rocket flashes by and both plates are either missing or hidden? I’m just asking, because clearly the Police don’t think it’s important.
I watched a marl truck yesterday commit four traffic infringements in 10 seconds: It passed me at close to 60 mph in a 25mph limit, going south towards what used to be called “Malfunction Junction”. It then switched lanes to turn left, but as there was no room to pass, it drove up over the pavement, all without using its indicator, and yes, you’ve guessed, it had no rear license plate, so I’m sorry Superintendent Howell, but even had I wanted to call you, it wouldn’t have helped a bit.
I’m not alone in becoming sick and tired of these drivers who flout the law and are being allowed to get away with it in full public view. The Police don’t deem to understand how this influences the way the Public judges them. You’d think those illegal blue lights would have a sporting chance of getting them wound up, but it seems not even that stirs them.
Well, they certainly drove it home on Sunday…..Look out!!! Crash!! Whoops!!
Perhaps it is time for a Traffic Department….Please bring one back and let’s get some enforcement. The experiment to close the Department has failed. How about signs by the roundabouts that say…Use your indicators it’s the Law!
People do use them, mainly at Christmas to brighten the festivities. Do they have another use?
Forget the indicators, how about signs that say how to use the roundabouts!
Unfortunately, most of the people who don’t use indicators are the same ones who don’t read signs!
for such a small country and community i cannot believe the horrific car crashes we have here. You think that people would learn, but the rcip is right , they just don’t.
what is more horrifying to me is that in the cayman islands, you can (god forbid) kill someone on the road…. and not only not spend the rest of your life in jail , but you can get your license back once you are released…
we need mandatory punishments for crimes like these..
(just like we need mandatory terms for gun related crime but that is a whole other battle it seems)
how does this sound..
kill someone on the road,(passenger or anyone ) whilst drunk driving , speeding, mandatory ten year min sentence and never to be able to get a license again…
lets see if people listen then rcips when someone does this (and we all know it will happen) then instead of a two year (or less) jail term and then a license reinstated. you go to jail , you suffer, you think, and if released you can never drive in the cayman islands,,, again, EVER!!!
Seasonal enforcement??? So laws are only enforced throughout a certain season? WTH?
Stop the campaign. If someone has passed the test to get the drivers license, they should be expected to know what the traffic laws reads. So please instead focus on getting those maniacs off the road, collect on the 700 outstanding tickets and stop treating everyone like they are a baby and need to be taught over and over again. Nobody cares about the damn awareness campaigns!!!!
It would be really helpful if police actually did traffic stops at random points across the entire island, that’s just not something I see happening on my daily commute.
I am sad to say that the state of lawlessness on the roads will remain that way until the police rigidly enforce the laws. There is a growing element who believe that its OK to drink drive, sit on the phone because they don’t get caught. We all see it every day. There has to be a unit of two doing continual blitzes.