Cops call out ‘unacceptable conduct’ of drivers
(CNS): With 55 drunk drivers arrested over the holiday period, the RCIPS has said it will continue the intensified enforcement operations in an effort to stop motorists who have been drinking from getting behind the wheel. There were several collisions over the New Year weekend, and though none were serious, police rounded up a dozen drivers for DUI. Overall, the holiday traffic enforcement initiative has revealed what police described as unacceptable conduct when it comes to drink driving.
Twice as many drivers were arrested during the crackdown this holiday season compared to last year, police said. Acting Chief Inspector Everton Spence, who oversees the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit, noted that traffic operations are conducted year-round but are intensified during the holiday period because more people are drinking and on the road.
“Since drunk driving is a primary public safety threat, the public can expect to see continued enforcement to curb this behaviour,” he said. “Over this past weekend, as during the entire holiday season, we have seen several instances of unacceptable conduct by road users. There have been attempts by some motorists to avoid paying the price for their choices by behaving dishonestly and breaking more laws,” he said.
The chief inspector commended road users who chose to be responsible by having designated drivers or alternate transportation. “We believe that it is because of these choices that there have been no senseless deaths on the roads over the past month. As we continue our traffic enforcement operations throughout the new year, our message remains the same: Don’t drink and drive, it is never worth the risk,” he added.
During the last weekend of Operation Winter Guardian police rounded up several more drunk drivers including another motorist who was more than two and half times over the limit. While conducting a road block on Saturday, 30 December, police stopped a vehicle just after 1am with a broken headlight. Suspecting that the 42-year-old West Bay woman behind the wheel was intoxicated, she was arrested after the roadside breath test showed an alcohol level of 0.189% on suspicion of DUI and later bailed.
During the night of New Year’s Eve going into New Year’s Day between 12:30 and 4am police arrested three other drivers on suspicion of DUI.
The first followed a two-vehicle smash on Huldah Avenue. When officers arrived, one of the cars had left the scene but it was found by officers in a nearby parking lot. The 39-year-old driver from George Town was arrested on suspicion of careless driving and DUI after he was found to have 0.151% alcohol level. No serious injuries were sustained in the collision and the driver has since been bailed.
In another incident on Monday morning, just before 3:30am, officers on patrol on West Bay Road observed a vehicle travelling at about twice the legal speed limit. The vehicle was stopped and the driver, a man aged 30 of Bodden Town, was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.253%, well over twice the legal limit. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI and dangerous driving and taken into police custody. He is now on police bail.
Then, shortly after 4:00 on Monday, officers on patrol stopped a vehicle that had been swerving while driving on Crewe Road. The driver, a woman aged 25 of George Town, was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.144%. She was also unable to provide a driver’s licence and initially provided a false name to police officers, after which it was determined that she is the holder of a provisional driver’s licence. She was subsequently arrested on suspicion of DUI, driving without being accompanied, giving false name and address to a police officer, and other related offenses. She was later bailed.
Category: Crime
Are these people drunk, chronic alcoholics or simply a drink over the limit.
The repeat offenders need to be sorted out and treated.
By treated, you mean jailed.
I’ve lived here 30 years and let’s be honest most people (responsible) and i am not advocating drink driving here but most people have a drink or two at lunch or dinner. Taxi/Public transport i feel could make a huge impact and should be addressed. Charging $15 for a 2-3 mile cab ride is a rip off come on guys..think volume business!
Another issue i feel why there are increased numbers of DUI’s is the intoxylizer is out of date/redundant (i know your all going to hate me) but it concerns us all. The intoxylizer is so redundant that it’s not been used in the manner it should be for reliable breath tests.
HERE”S WHY
1. The intoxylizer only has a one year warranty but the intoxylizer been used in Cayman has been many years in service. The intoxylizer is not even warrantied for any particular service. Crazy hey. Read it here http://www.alcoholtest.com/terms-conditions-sale/
2. Because this machine is redundant they only give one breath test to determine your state. The machine requires/instructors so as to work correctly two breath tests be given which should be close in their results to each other to provide “reliable” test results and also it proves the intoxylizer is actually working correctly at the time of the test. This procedure is not followed to give reliable results???
3. The machine can print out at the time of breath tests it’s calibration state to prove the machine is working properly at the time but this option is turned off on the machine to prove it is working correctly at the time???
4. This machine cannot tell the difference between different alcohols both drink and human produced.
Some of you may hate me but this is serious stuff and it actually may account for these unusual high numbers of DUI’s ? Why isn’t the machine not been used the way it should be for reliable results? It would seem anyone can blow over on this machine even with been careful as there is no accountability with this machine.SO BE CAREFUL.
VERY SCARY STUFF and needs to be addressed also.
The real problem is that if true, your facts are the perfect defense in court and the drunks walk.
Thank you. With respect who said anything about drunks? The reality is when you walk around Camana Bay / or any restaurants and 90% of folks are drinking responsibly, they are not drunks. That’s the reality in Cayman..The reality here is the intoxylizer should follow a process as it was built/programmed to follow so as to produce reliable test results but its not?
Remember, reliability is defined as the ability to reproduce the same result through later tests, or in other words the ability to confirm the accuracy of the first test result. This is a tough subject but one that needs to be addressed.
What a disgusting apologist. Drinking before getting before getting a car is the very opposite of drinking responsibly. That is the act of selfish person who does not care about the risks to good innocent families.
That may be an issue, but the bigger one is that people drink and drive, most thinking they will get away with it and “it’s not far”. In most cases they do get away with it. Indeed CIG has to get to grips with taxi pricing. They are all ripoff merchants and really bad for our tourist product. It’s rare you ever want to call one just because you know you are going to get overcharged. Meters and reasonable prices are needed now, and the volume of people using taxis will soar.
Only 55 over the entire holiday period? I was working at one pre-Christmas function where RCIPS could have busted that many DUIs in the parking lot afterwards. This is still down to who you know and who you are because there were a number of people at that bash who are effectively untouchable.
totally unacceptable ……lock um up or cow itch them….they need not ve on road! now we see the stats… no one was killed on roads this christmas and new years day…they were caught before they could xause harm….Great job RCIP!☺ and we see up at east end…their drug use was twarfted by the exxelkent job of police in catching the smugglers…again great job!?
Every year the same story and yet they keep doing the same and expect a different outcome.
How come there appears to be zero police action during known traffic rush hours? Wouldn’t it help to start working smarter rather than harder? Wouldn’t it also help if neighborhood officers would also enforce some of the traffic laws they are witnessing while patrolling an area?
It would be so good if the police did like surveys and assessments on this. I would guesstimate that the reason there is always an explosion of bad driving in late December – February and then again from late July to early September, that’s when I’m guessing most new drivers touch the road. Also if they wanted to be even more effective they could encourage the local bars and establishments to keep track of their patrons drinking. If I was a responsible business owner I would hate to loose customers to drunk driving if I could avoid it. If a party has more than five rounds, offer them taxis or other options. Better yet ask for the designated driver at the door and offer that person perks of free food. It would probably bum out some of your customers but it’s for their own benefit, we all know our best reasoning flies out after a few drinks. I think the police sitting on the side of the roads and causing major roadblocks for a precious few, though sometimes helpful, we could try to avoid it all together. Government can find some sort of funding for supporting bus drivers after hours to assist in the initiative. Just a few thoughts.
Everyone: begging the cops to actually do something.
Cops: we are shocked by the appalling drivers on this island!
End result: nothing to see here, cops do 15 minutes extra work right at the end of the year and the cycle continues until the next award winning crackdown name Xmas 2018.
Mandatory 6 month or 1 year jail terms, lengthy driving bans and confiscation of vehicles would help nudge some of these selfish idiots towards civilized behavior.
Just witnessed a train of EMS vehicles getting held up by multiple drivers that refused to pull over and yield to sirens and lights. Wtf?!? Every single EMS vehicle should have a dash cam so that all of these bad-operators can be quickly identified, arrested, fined $500, and forfeit their driving privileges for 12 months (per Traffic Law 2011). RCIPS: please get these selfish people off the road ASAP!!!
I venture out onto the road for 20 minutes a day. In that time I invariably see at least 1 car with no plates at all, at least 1 blacked out accord or civic swerving in and out of traffic playing racing cars like a 4 year old, dangerous, stupid and inattentive driving on roundabouts and unrestrained children walking around in cars. IMO the police are wilfully blind to their compatriots and would rather go for the easy speeding fines than get into arguments.
What are speeding fines? Actually, what are police?
Re the no plates; I have been waiting for the DVDL to let me know when I can expect to pick them up and get nothing in return. I have no plates because when the vehicle was transferred the owner kept their personalized plates. I have been to the DVDL multiple in different districts and they tell me a.someone will call or b’ I cant get the new ones until my sticker expires in March and I get the vehicle inspected. Until then; no plates for me.
When you have alcohol being circulated like water, then what on earth does anyone expect will happen?
Please, please, just drink yourselves to death before you get on the road drunk and kill someone innocent with your foolishness.
How nice for the police the to actually acknowledge there is an issue. It isn’t as if every sane driver hasn’t noticed this day in, day out for what seems like an eternity, yet nothing ever really happened.
I wish I could ticket every police car breaking the law. Give me a ticket booklet, I will do it for free.
Inane deflection of the apologist.
Private sector employees causing the government trouble again.
The Police and other powers have allowed this situation to grow to what we have today. The large number of traffic law infractions that we see (and seemingly Police cannot see) is due to many years of near non existent traffic law enforcement!
It’s now way out of hand and most of those breaking the traffic laws no this…they know it is very unlikely that they will get stopped by Police!
Well the only way to deter the “unacceptable conduct” from wreckless drivers is for the RCIP to be present, visible and carrying out their duties all year long and not just doing the “holiday” coverage! Let’s get serious about safe driving. Yes, driving under the influence of alcohol is unacceptable but so is the speeding, overtaking, cutting in & out of traffic, riding peoples bumperas etc. etc. All is takes is constant patrolling and actually issuing tickets with fines to follow. Once you start with the basics of law & order, people may just start respecting the RCIP and following the laws
Great comment, the problem is there is no fear among the driving public that they will get stopped. They know the odds are very slim. If you can race up and down the bypass every Sunday afternoon with impunity then why would I be afraid to speed, not indicate, etc…….
What’s the point, the punishment is tedious. My property destroyed with a drink driver, his insurance won’t pay because being pissed invalidated his policy and he’s back behind the wheel despite having a previous conviction before hitting my place. I have a money award against him, his deadline to pay just keeps getting extended without even considering or consulting me.
You hear that the Police is going to get serious in 2018 with drunk driving. So do your drinking at home or get a designated driver .
55 out of thousands. We are barely scratching the surface of the problem. We need to radically overhaul the Traffic Regulations to give the RCIPS more power to enforce the Laws and raise revenues to support a more more robust street presence. Impaired driving should be criminalized. There should be a locations services-enabled app with the bus route, schedule, and proximity of next bus. We can’t keep living in the past. We need to get with the times.
I wish I could do one million thumbs up for this comment
Maybe a couple real busses would help too…
as long as the bus drivers improve as well
This reading is truly frightening!! And these are the number of people that have been caught. Think how many DUI have not been caught over this holiday period. Their licences need to be taken away for 10 years plus the confiscation of their vehicles. These idiots are a danger to the law abiding citizens on these roads. Well done RCIPS!
Fix the public transport and taxi services, along with the higher level of enforcement this problem should start to dwindle…….
As long as it takes an incident or other reason for suspicion to find out if someone is driving drunk, those who believe they can drive drunk well enough will continue to do so (and they’ll unfortunately have good reason to think this because they get home 99.5% of the time – odds you would take to the bank if it were anything else). What is always left out of this debate is alcohol tolerance. Just as with medication, some can handle much more than others because their bodies have adapted. Those scary breathalyser readings hide that. We need a public transport system and more professional, honest cab drivers. Changing behaviour takes more than the threat of punishment or the possibility of catastrophe (daily life has that built in – just look at what the cruise tourists think of our painted crosswalks that they don’t know we must stop to let them cross if they would only use them). The cost/benefit to taking the risk has to change and people will then make better choices. I know because I’ve lived in cities and countries where drunk driving is a choice people never make, not once, and not least because of the many alternatives they have. People here don’t have many right now (overpriced cab both ways; overpriced cab one way and be stranded in the morning with your car open to theft and vandalism overnight; inconvenience someone who isn’t part of the fun to drive you and hope you find someone to drop you home; or make one of your friends sit the party out while being at the party). All better than being caught and off the road, if not much worse, but…0.5% of the time. Police and government have to engage with this reality. They can’t bump that percentage up enough to scare most anyone around here, not with all the officers they can assign. Also look at social causes. Why does everyone want to get drunk around here anyway? I have lots of answers to that question but that’s another post.
Not just the drunks, careless driving too…a big thanks to the lady in the SUV who stopped in broad daylight today in the middle of the Camana Bay cross roads before the cinema parking lot to let a friend out, and then chatted to that friend for 5 minutes, blocking the road (due to an illegally parked car on the other side of the road) and causing a jam. She clearly did not give a damn…and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem. No one gives a damn.
Just a handful of attentive cops on the side of the road, regularly observing traffic and engaging with the maniacs, would lead to radically different attitudes. So easy, and well within the job description. Anywhere else in the western world, this would be a normal expectation every couple miles.