Traffic infractions cause cops continued concern
(CNS): Police have once again highlighted the number of traffic infractions over the weekend, Friday to Sunday, with officers making multiple arrests on the roads, from driving without a licence to drunk drivers speeding and causing crashes. Six people were arrested on suspicion of DUI, two for driving while disqualified, one for dangerous driving, one for leaving the scene of an accident and another for possession of ganja. “I believe we are lucky that no one lost their life on the road this weekend because we have been seeing some very irresponsible behavior and dangerous driving,” said Inspector Ian Yearwood, Head of the Traffic Management Unit.
“We are out conducting regular patrols and doing radar checks because drunk driving is a menace to all of us. Remember, if you are caught driving drunk you will lose your licence for a minimum of one year. Don’t risk it. Be responsible,” the senior officer added.
Highlighting just some of the incidents officers dealt with, the RCIPS said that a 63-year-old man was arrested when he was pulled over for travelling at twice the speed limit on the West Bay Road at about 11:30pm Friday. Having failed a breath test, he was arrested for DUI, dangerous driving and other traffic offences when it was discovered his driver’s licence had expired, along with the vehicle’s certificate of road worthiness and the registration. He is now on police bail.
On Saturday afternoon, 18 November, just before 2:30pm a head-on collision near the cricket pitch on Crewe Road between an orange Honda Element travelling west and Honda Civic traveling east resulted in both cars being badly damaged, though the drivers escaped serious injuries. The 22-year-old driver of the Honda was arrested for driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and possession of ganja after the drugs were found when he was searched. He has also been bailed.
At around 3:00 in the morning on Sunday officers were called to a crash on South Church Street involving a white Nissan Fuga and a blue Hyundai Accent. The Hyundai sustained major front-end damage after it pulled out onto South Church Street from Boilers Road. The 31-year-old driver was breathalyzed and found to have a blood alcohol level over twice the legal limit. She was arrested for DUI and is now on police bail.
Later that morning, at round 10:00am, officers stopped a silver Honda Accord with heavily tinted windows on Shedden Road near the junction of Mary Street. They found that the 25-year-old driver was driving with an expired license. He was arrested and has since been released on bail.
At about 2:30 Monday morning officers on patrol encountered a blue Mazda Demio stationary in the eastbound lane of Shedden Road in the vicinity of Martin Road. The driver appeared to be asleep, and when awoken by officers he could not produce his driver’s licence. The officers believed the 40-year-old man had been drinking but he refused a breath test. He was arrested for refusing to provide a specimen before being bailed.
Where else in the entire world does the public beg the police, on their knees, every day, year-after-year, for professional enforcement of the traffic laws? The headline above reads, “traffic infractions cause cops continued concern.” Judging by the egregious lack of enforcement, this headline reads like the very distillation, the perfect, iconic expression, a thesaurus’s example, the dictionary-definition, of ‘hypocrisy’. I’m busy working out whether I should laugh like a tearful emoticon, or scream like Edvard Munch’s painting, adopted as a tragic image on a billion cell-phones . I think doing both at the same time would be my truest reaction to this mind-bendingly ridiculous, schizophrenia-inducing and completely disingenuous, headline.
I know that if tomorrow I were to install dark blue headlights on my car like a Christmas tree, remove my front plate, cover the rear plate with darkened plastic, black out my windows, put 3-inch pink spikes on my wheels, tear up my driver’s licence and insurance, install bald tyres, open the windows and turn up the obscene rap, I would have a better chance of winning the Florida Lottery than being inconvenienced by the police over the next month. I truly am a great supporter of our police, but my patience has entirely run out when it comes to Cayman’s roads. I hate to say it, but the lack of traffic policing is truly shameful, dangerous even. And our politicians, are they deaf and blind also?
Don’t worry-Christmas blitz soon come. And then back to normal.
The time has come for a dedicated traffic prison.
If the police “are out conducting regular patrols” how come on my daily commute between Prospect and George Town I never (ever) see a police car, all the while witnessing multiple road traffic infractions? Come on, RCIPS, are you pulling my leg or what? Get out every morning between 7 and 9 and start pulling over the idiots plaguing our roads.
Unfortunately the only solution to a lot of these problems will never happen in Cayman, that is to be able to impound these vehicle. If the powers that be ever consider solutions to the absolute lawlessness of offenders on our roads this has to be considered.
Hit them where it hurts, tow and impound the vehicle and collect the fine when they come to claim it back. Nice big fines that have to be paid, not ignored for years .’
Make them think twice when their loud piece of crap(or not)toy gets taken from them , then and only then will we see results .. Dang sure it works in other places….
set up a police cameras on any roundabout….automatically you will record dangerous drivers, non-use of indicators, speeders, tinted vehicles…etc.
then just follow up with fines in the post.
problem solved.
Might catch some cops breaking road rules so we can’t do that now can we?
Of course, the CCTV system should be capable of that too, but….
solution: bring in private traffic cops. they get % of fines so there is no expense to gov and cops have more time to fight real crime or we can cut their numbers. win-win.
But what exactly are “private traffic cops”?
I can already see the hundreds of business licence applications. We would get a new industry overnight. All the while empowering cowboys to target civilians with impunity.
Some A*shat this morning driving through the underpass at 60mph in Black Accord weaving in and out of traffic. Honking their horn at 8 am. What a loser!
I know I’m 63yrs Comm., Byrne but please take me back to the Traffic Dept., to work again. Omg!! The abuse of Traffic Laws in Cayman is completely out of hand. So out of hand it’s frightening!! I am lost for words at the constant amount of violations on a daily basis. Get Supt.,Kevin McCann back to take over the reigns of this much needed leadership of the Traffic Dept. Let’s get those white hats back in those patrol cars. Pleeeeease!! ??♀️???
Immigration needs to work with the police – there is no way that these losers are in cayman legally. Hey police have you seen the cars they are driving (they are either a piece of unlicensed crap or $100,000 car) either way there is something radically wrong here.
Ah, there we go, blame the furreners….cos no Caymanian can do anything wrong….despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary sitting in Northward…
No, but on the other hand let’s be entirely reasonable and not pre-judgemental and ask each work permit applicant which brand of car they’d see themselves driving. If it’s a Honda Civic, well, then, that’s that, I guess.Seems entirely reasonable to me.
The two lanes in front of the Savannah school is a disaster waiting to happen. Action needs to happen NOW. PLEASE.
Yes Police…this is what happens when we have years of almost no traffic law enforcement.
Why this seems to surprise or baffle the Police and other powers is beyond me?
And why are these people getting out on bail
They are arrested, not charged. Do a little research into the law.
They’re out on bail, and out of jail, and that’s the way it goes.
Here is the main profile is a large portion of the culprits:
– Street Performance Mufflers
– Tinted windows
– Tinted back licence plate
– Front licence plate on dashboard (for easy removal)
– Low profile tires
– Honda Civic or Accord
Hater
Don’t forget the not so well endowed guy in the Audi A7 that decided that the turning lane on West Bay Road was his personal passing lane. Watched this joker doing at least 90 mph from Eastern Ave to Laurence Blvd. At about 8pm on Friday.
Under-endowed is more likely, and it’s an R8.
LOL “low profile tires”. Do you understand that some cars come fitted from factory with this?
What is wrong with an Accord or Civic? Should we profile people for driving normal cars?
I have to agree with the original poster, whenever I see a Civic or Accord anywhere near me or 2 inches off my rear bumper I go even more cautiously than usual.
Absolutely. The connection between Honda Civics and stupid driving by the idiots who crave them is well established. They should be banned entirely, in my opinion. It’s a matter of public safety, surely?
Dont forget totally illegal headlight modifications and straight pipe exhausts. was heading towards town the other day and a white bmw was flashing headlights in different colors and alternating like a police cruiser…totally illegal. There are also a number of deportee junk turbo and rice cars here with full on straight pipes and no catalytic converters result in total dirty, smog emissions. you can smell those cars a half mile away, if cayman had emissions testing, they would fail immediately.
OMG! @ 10:56 am
I saw the same white BMW with these crazy dance lights on the front! very distracting….it’s all you could see coming toward you! They were almost like strobe lights! Insane!!!!
I hope the cops start writing tickets and fining for these infractions. If they don’t pay on time to the Courts, they get a warrant for their arrest!
It’s funny cos it’s true. It’s always a crappy little Accord with crappy blacked out plates, crappy exhaust, crappy extended wheel nuts and crappy driver.
7:56 Don’t forget suspension so cut down the car almost rubs on the street and the front wheels hit the fenders going round corners. The big problem here is that most times the clowns doing this don’t even use proper suspension kits – they just cut a couple coils off the stock springs.
How about some proactive policing instead of reactive? If the police had a greater presence on the road there wouldn’t be so many idiots breaking the law.
Let’s be honest, the very minimal risk of loosing a driver’s license for a year should pale in comparison to the very real possibility of crashing, killing or injuring yourself, someone else, cyclists, joggers, kids, dogs, totalling your car, etc. Such a dumb choice. People don’t drive drunk because “cabs are too expensive”, they drive drunk because they are idiots.
The mad bikers were out again yesterday doing wheelies…
The police is targeting the cars in road blocks but the Fu**ing bikes is left alone is a shame.
If the police were to stop all those who have willfully removed their old-style, front, yellow plates or those who have failed to install their new, front, white plates, Miami-style, it would go a long way to demonstrate that the Police are rescinding their carte blanche to do as you like on the roads, and that vehicle registration is no longer optional. Trucks whistle by me every day with tyres worn down to the canvas, obscured or missing plates, crackling and illegal jake-brakes, while blasting out plumes of black smoke, exposing everyone’s lungs to dangerous nano-particulates. What must you do to get stopped these days? Strap a large bag marked “DRUGS” to your roof and drive on the wrong side of the road at 100 mph? I’m ready to give up, really.
What ya fighting for?
You are so right. In addition, the number of vehicles I have seen in the last 6 months which are not registered (some by a number of years), the amount of times I watch the police pass cars parked on double yellow lines, on the kerbs (preventing pedestrians from using it)… Oh, and cyclists riding against the traffic (often with no lights in the dark). I just don’t understand why these things are invisible to our law enforcement – especially when this should be a government revenue earner.
What about all the people still on cell phones, small children standing between seats or standing in the front seat? I pass at least 20 to 30 a day, either on the way to work or during my lunch hour and have called the police numerous times on this. When the child, unfortunately, flies through the front wind shield, because the driver is otherwise distracted, will it stop???
Glad to see someone else taking notice! Just went out on a short errand which included a stop at the petrol station… wanna know how many “infractions” I saw? First thing was the 2 dumbbells walking on the wrong side of the 50 mph road with absolutely no interest in personal safety, then a truck I pulled put behind, failed to keep a contant speed between 29 and 38, again in the 50 zone, then the cyclists with no reflectors or lights on his bike. Saw 2 cars with a headlamp out, plus many others with misaligned ones or just refusing to dip them. A pickup on the Queen’s Highway parked in a dark hilly area without zero lights on,. Oh… and yesterday without fear of the Law, guy proudly parks next to me in his lovely Land Rover with a registration dick from 2014!!! But it seems the Eastern Districts are lawless! This is without mentioning the amount of mobile users whilst driving, the drivers who think Old Robin Road is a 50mph zone yet its clearly posted as a 30, and the idiotic tailgaters who usually have bright headlamps who thinks its okay to do so because you are obeying the posted speed limit!
I brought my plates and expired coupon into DVDL in late October and they told me “my new plates” wouldn’t arrive for 6-8 weeks. They printed me a new coupon for a year and wouldn’t let me take a new plate number. Only new vehicles can get the new plates and those old numbers they have transitioned over. I was again told to wait to be called. If there is actually a person tasked with making 50,000 phone calls, it might explain how slow this is. Batch mailer would be a more efficient use of resources.