Police net five drunk drivers in clampdown

| 15/12/2016 | 32 Comments

(CNS): During the first week of the annual seasonal crackdown on drunk drivers and other offenders, spoiling the holidays for themselves and others, the police have revealed that five people were arrested for driving under the influence, two for driving while disqualified, and twenty-six traffic tickets were given for expired coupons, expired insurance and illegally tinted windows. This year the safety initiative has been conducted at a dozen different locations at various times of day and night. Police hope that the intensified traffic enforcement operations will act as a deterrent.

“We have varied our locations and tactics in order to improve the efficiency of these operations,” said Inspector Ian Yearwood, Head of the Traffic Management Unit. “While we are getting a result, the point is to have a deterrent effect on drunk and unsafe driving. I do believe that we are having that effect as well.”

Officers also netted the driver of an illegal dirt bike, who was arrested on Friday, 9 December, for driving without insurance and driving whilst disqualified. The 24-year-old George Town man was spotted by police on Walkers Road around 9:30pm.

“Everyone who uses the road must obey the laws and regulations that exist for everyone’s safety,” Yearwood said. “Illegally riding a dirt bike on the road is an offence with the possibility of a fine or even imprisonment.”

The police also said that three women were arrested for drug offences when they tried to avoid a road block on the West Bay Road last Friday. Officers spotted a vehicle turning onto Harbour Place to avoid the roadside check but a police officer stopped the vehicle and found the driver was disqualified. The smell inside the car aroused the officer’s suspicions and a search turned up several packages of what was believed to be ganja as well as drug utensils.

The two passengers, an 18-year-old girl from Bodden Town and a 22-year-old woman from West Bay, were arrested on suspicion of possession of ganja with intent to supply and other drug-related offences.  The driver, another 18-year-old girl from Bodden Town, was also arrested for drug offences as well as driving whilst disqualified.  All three have been bailed.

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Comments (32)

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  1. Cheese Face says:

    Half of the police on this island can’t see where the indicator stalk is on their cruisers, how are they going to see illegal trailers, missing plates, blacked out windows etc.?

  2. Anonymous says:

    If you cannot afford the taxi home, you cannot afford to drink on the night out.

  3. Anonymous says:

    When theiving taxi drivers try and charge you $42 to get from George Town Yacht Club to Lone Star it’s no wonder so many people don’t use the parasites.

  4. Anonymous says:

    bring in uber. problem solved.

  5. Anonymous says:

    LOL, only five DUIs in a week? Outside the bar I was in last night they could have nabbed more than that in half-an-hour after the party broke up. At least 30 people left there around 11pm and drove away totally ratted. I wasn’t exactly sober but had arranged a lift home from someone who doesn’t drink – based on that I needn’t have bothered.

    • Anonymous says:

      So many drunks on the road last night. This seasonal PR strategy is totally ineffectual, year after year.

  6. Anonymous says:

    If taxi drivers didn’t charge so much… or so much EXTRA after midnight, maybe people wouldn’t be so inclined to drive under the influence! Jus sayin’! Don’t punish people by charging more to try and get home safe- it’s highway robbery what they charge to get across town to begin with!!

    • Anonymous says:

      Once again the clueless selfish dangerous asses that feel that the $5,$10,$25 cost of local cab ride is worth risking the death or paralysis of themselves, and innocent strangers. Maybe you shouldn’t be spending your pay at bars – until you can grow up and make responsible adult choices?!? Your appointment with destiny awaits.

      • Anonymous says:

        What island are you living on? Can ride for less that $25.

        • Anonymous says:

          We regularly cab to and from bars and restaurants. Rarely more than $10 on SMB and walking is free. Those others that drop hundreds on dinners and bar tabs and then complain they can’t afford to be responsible, are selfish dangerous idiots. Nobody has the right to drive drunk regardless of cost.

          • Anonymous says:

            In all fairness, I live on SMB and am regularly charged CI$25 per person to go no more than 5 minutes along the road after midnight. It is unfair that the taxi drivers raise their fees when they know that people have no other option. Thankfully I live in SMB and can walk home. I feel sorry for those to live further away.

  7. Anonymous says:

    What pisses me off is cyclists riding at night with no lights and on the wrong side of the road. WAKE UP IDIOTS, you’re placing your life at risk!

  8. Anonymous says:

    This is just the tip of the iceberg. Every day, I see so many people idiots breaking the law by using cellphones, speeding, riding in the flat beds of trucks, and foolishly not wearing a seat belt; placing their lives and other people’s lives at risk. I wish road users in Cayman would wake up and play by the rules, and I wish the police would be more proactive in taking these people to task throughout the whole year.

    • Anonymous says:

      Listening Inspector Yearwood? This person is correct, You get a pat on the back for this one week but you need to be doing more the other 51 weeks of the year to make a real difference because people don’t care anymore about their safety or anyone else’s for that matter. You are the only ones who can fix that.

  9. Anonymous says:

    5 DUIs is a hair-width improvement over total ineptitude. There are thousands of DUIs every night, all year long. RCIPS consistently pats themselves every year for appalling sub-standard results. Try the bar parking lots slammed with hundreds of vehicles on the same days every week. Pull over the hundreds of cars with no lights on after dusk. This isn’t rocket science.

  10. The Moral of the Story says:

    Don’t drive drunk in December!

  11. Anonymous says:

    How many dirt bikes did they catch?

  12. Anonymous says:

    Earlier this week during lunch hour, between the Camana Bay round-about and the Butterfield round-about, I crossed 4 vehicles which did not have a license plate mounted on the front, and one truck pulling a trailer which did not have any break lights or license plate…..

    I know police can’t be everywhere, but where are they??? I am sure they are not all on roadblocks management 24/7…….

    • Po Po Jeb Bush says:

      Did one say XXXXX across the front by chance. Crap team and an illegal car. They should get ticketed for both crimes. Also, the unlicensed trailer that tore the back end off the vehicle towing it the other day, by the Cricket pitch, did that get a ticket or did the attending officer turn a blind eye?

  13. Anonymous says:

    Why can’t this be happening all year around? The amount of people without a driving permit found during those crack down is scary. But hey – if one gambles that they can drive around all year without driving permit or insurance cause the law is only enforced during xmas time, then the chances are that they can get away with this for several years until they finally are caught in a road block somewhere and then they get probably a little slap on the wrist. What is done to actually dish out AND COLLECT those fines?

  14. Anonymous says:

    Well done Police! Please don’t make this just a seasonal thing. Keep it up all year round.

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