Cops continue rounding up drunk drivers

| 08/01/2018 | 46 Comments

(CNS) Although the Christmas and New Year celebrations are over, police said that drivers are still getting behind the wheel drunk and in the first weekend of 2018 they rounded up nine drivers during enforcement operations and during patrols because of too much booze. Two of the nine were arrested on Cayman Brac, while one driver on Grand Cayman was arrested after he was found to be almost four times over the legal alcohol limit. “The holiday season is over, but drunk driving is continuing and so is our enforcement,” said Inspector Ian Yearwood from the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit.

“However, with over ten accidents on average per day, and extremely high levels of intoxication by some behind the wheel, we know we cannot change behaviour on the road by ourselves. We need the public to work with us; if you see someone who is clearly intoxicated and insists on getting behind the wheel, call us,” he added.

From the nine drivers arrested over the weekend several were involved in smashes, starting in the early hours of Saturday morning, when just before 1:00am officers were called to a single vehicle collision near the Cayman National Roundabout in George Town, where a car had mounted the sidewalk. The 37-year-old driver from George Town was breath tested and arrested for DUI after he found to have a blood alcohol content of .387%, or almost 4 times the legal limit.

Officers conducting a road block on Esterley Tibbetts Highway near Yacht Drive arrested a 34-year-old George Town driver for DUI after he smashed into another car as traffic slowed to pass through the police cordon. The driver was said to travelling at speed and failed to stop in time to avoid colliding with the vehicle in front of it. The driver, who was later bailed, had a blood alcohol level of .173%.

Meanwhile, officers on patrol in Walkers Road spotted and stopped a car that was swerving and driving erratically. The 30-year-old man from George Town who was behind the wheel was arrested on suspicion of DUI when his breath test showed a blood alcohol content of .192%.

Shortly after 4:00 on Sunday, 7 January, officers responded to a 911 call about a two-vehicle collision on Shamrock Road near the intersection of Condor Road. A Dodge Ram had collided with the rear of a Ford Escape before leaving the road and colliding with the concrete wall of a property nearby. The 40-year-old driver of the Ram was found to have a blood alcohol content of .210% and was arrested on suspicion of DUI. He was later bailed. Four children who were in the Ford Escape were assessed by EMTs on scene and then released.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: , ,

Category: Local News

Comments (46)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Anonymous says:

    deregulate taxi industry and bring in uber…..that would reduce drink driving by 50% overnight.

  2. Anonymous says:

    unbelievably, the standard of driving is getting worse on the island!….
    can’t help to think that the police commissioners weak response to the dirt bikers has now empowered the recklessness we see on the roads…

  3. Anonymous says:

    solution: bring in private traffic enforcement agency.
    they get % of fines, so no cost to cig and the real cops can spend more time on real crime…..or we can significantly reduce the police force(again saves cig money)

  4. dazed and confused. says:

    Sadly Drinking and Driving is too prevalent in the Cayman Islands. From my time here, i believe that this is because:

    i. it is not socially unacceptable, where it is in the UK or Canada.
    ii. the provision for public transport or taxis is lacking or far too expensive.
    iii. the lack of a visible police presence stopping bad drivers.

    too often have i seen a car swerving over the road at 7pm or 8pm on a Saturday or a Sunday. There should be every weekend roving police check points were everyone gets breathalyzed. that will soon stop the habit of drink driving and hopefully more taxis or buses can also be put in place to allow people to get home.

    .387 is a monster reading. The guys should go to jail. No excuses, no suspended sentence, that is such a dangerous level.

    • Anonymous says:

      Ask yourself – Why are the police changing all the intoxylizer machines??? Because the current intoxylizer machines DO NOT function correctly nor are they operated correctly to obtain reliable breath tests…..this is why you have monster readings

      1
      1
      • Anonymous says:

        ^ DUI

        • dazed and confused. says:

          It was a blood reading which is not done by an intoxilyser but rather a blood test.

          I do however agree that the current machines are rubbish and they should buy the Lion Intoxilisyer as they are very good, idiot proof and very reliable.

          • Anonymous says:

            Agreed “dazed and confused”. Uber or a similar offering would make a big dent OR have the buses extend their times to 2am and charge $3/4 dollars to jump on..make more money for them.

            The current intoxylizers are redundant and to compensate for this redundancy the intoxylizers are not operated to how they should be as recommended by their manufacturers to produce reliable legal results….this is been covered up…

  5. Anonymous says:

    Every time we hear the “stealth” helicopter hovering overhead, burning gas rattling our roof, we wonder what ground support they would possibly call in (and from where) if they ever saw anything worth actioning. There simply are no visible ground units deployed in the community. We need to see observant patrols enforcing laws to restore confidence and get the public to pick up the phone and report that suspicious prowler. Nobody wants to bother wasting their evening talking to a cop sitting in his patrol car an hour after the report was made. Consequently these calls never happen and crime continues to rise. It’s not hard to fix this. The recipe is easy, and we’re already paying for it as part of the job description.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Mandatory jail for DUI and confiscation of the car. These selfish drunk drivers only change behaviour when it affects them.

    3
    2
  7. Anonymous says:

    Name and shame the drunk drivers via a weekly list in a local paper and on a Facebook page!

    5
    2
  8. Dunz says:

    About time they round up the car thieves.

    Nonetheless good job.

  9. SSM345 says:

    Anyone else see the taxi and ambulance crash in town today?

  10. Anonymous says:

    great job RCIP! No deaths on cayman road this holiday season….perhaps because they were taken off prior …..keep up good work!☺☺?

    12
    2
    • Anonymous says:

      While you at it Mr. Cop, please round up the drivers that speed through the Savannah School Zone at the height of children drop-off and pick-up times.

      Insensitive and potentially deadly!

      16
      • Anonymous says:

        It’s that second lane that merges right outside the school that is the problem. It is also what causes the gridlock all the way from that point past Northward every morning.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Showing up to crashes and claiming that as arresting dwi people isn’t doing your full job. Yes, you got 1 swerving car but on a daily basis we see drivers breaking the law. Until you actually patrol and pull people over for minor traffic offenses you’re not making a dent in this problem. People don’t fear the law here.

    27
    1
    • Anonymous says:

      We need to expect an observant cruiser every couple miles if we want to make any dent in opportunistic crime, theft and rape. They should be filling their ticket books with traffic violations until they get a more serious call out on their fancy new radios. Many of those calls are never made because there is a frustrated community expectation of a 20-30 minute response time – and the bad actors, often on parole, are counting on that window to be long gone. The only way we fix this is by cancelling the dominos tournament at HQ and distributing eyes and wheels at regular intervals in the community.

      12
  12. West bay Premier says:

    Good job RCIPS keep it up , and if there’s any Government Department that should be paid OT should be the ones that are trying to keep us all safe .

    9
    1
    • Anonymous says:

      It is said that the RCIPS are the most underfunded department in government and they refuse to pay overtime because of this.
      The government are blind, if crime does spiral kiss goodbye to your overseas tourists as this island actually has very little apart from dive sites and stringray city which is becoming a free for all.

      4
      1
      • Anonymous says:

        >$30mln a year spent on a massive payroll for a siloed personnel of over 400…hardly underfunded yet chronically unable/unwilling to tackle their simple job description?!? Spare us!

  13. Anonymous says:

    we need stiffer penalties! that way they think twice about drinking and driving???? lawmakers you hot your ears open???

    8
    2
  14. Anonymous says:

    i fancy since police blocked off those coming from east thru patrick island, i get to work faster y traffic flowing on main road goes much faster. i live in prospect. GREAT JoB police!☺? keep up good work!!!!!

    9
    1
  15. Anonymous says:

    On Sunday I observed two police officers at the airport, assisting with regulating traffic it seems. There were many cars with dark tinted windows and without license plates in front AND back etc passing by them, so my question is, why not take the opportunity to pull these cars over and issue tickets? Wouldn’t it be an ideal opportunity to demonstrate some enforcement?

    I said it before EVERY police officer should help to enforce the traffic laws. Don’t turn a blind eye just because you may not be assigned to a certain dept (albeit one would assume that they were part of the traffic dept if they were there to help keep things moving and orderly).

    18
    • Hear Hear says:

      Hear hear. With over 600 police on staff I think the leadership should do a MUCH better job of patrolling and seeking out minor offenses. Only then, will the public awareness change from everything including opportunistic home burglaries, to tinted window traffic offenses to DUIs and pressure on major crime and gangs. I have not seen a patrol car in Prospect near the hot spots in months? Small island, we know where the risks are, too bad the police presence is not visible enough- again, leadership, leadership, leadership. I want press conferences, 2018 road map, published stats, public watch meetings, use your media Commissioner- you get a good wage and we should aim to have zero crime!!

      10
  16. Anonymous says:

    .387 is impressive, wouldn’t mind hanging with this guy.

    13
    3
  17. Anonymous says:

    I think the priority should be on speeding and aggressive driving, tailing and dangerous overtaking.
    Some of them will be drunk, but stopping traffic to find 2 drunk people is not efficient.
    Unmarked police cars should be on the road and get these freaks off it.

    22
    • Anonymous says:

      They could pull multiple tickets for traffic offences at most roundabouts every single day, especially rush hours. Until they enforce the road code and introduce a keep left (unless overtaking or turning right) rule on dual carriageways it’s only going to get worse.

  18. nauticalone says:

    Again!….years of almost no consistent traffic law enforcement will result in current situation!

    18
  19. Anonymous says:

    Wasn’t the traffic cop in court today?
    How that go?

  20. Anonymous says:

    cow itch them! they need not be on street behind a wheel of a vehicle!!!?

  21. Dunz says:

    No wonder there are so many dumped cars.

  22. Anonymous says:

    Thank you to the Police for their continued diligence. Driving while drunk certainly didn’t start with Christmas and it certainly won’t stop. But please, someone tell us what the limit is and what does it equate to eg one glass of wine, 1 shot of rum, a pinacolada, or is it zero?

    6
    2
    • Anonymous says:

      Depends on the person. Some people have higher tolerance than others. The limit of .100% is quite high compared to other countries and most can handle about 2 alcoholic drinks and still be under. However, it’s always best to not drink and drive at all!

      11
    • Anonymous says:

      Keep in mind that you can still be charged for driving while impaired even if you are under the limit, if there is cause to believe your consumption of alcohol impaired your abilities as a driver. And the penalties are the same, so best to not drink at all.

      5
      1
  23. Anonymous says:

    Unless a person has developed a very high tolerance for alcohol, a BAC rating of 0.20% represents very serious intoxication. In general most first-time drinkers are unconscious by about 0.15%. A range of 0.35% to 0.40% usually represents potentially fatal alcohol poisoning.

    13
    • nauticalone says:

      Then the person arrested at .387 must be an alien?

      • Anonymous says:

        NO ALIENS IN CAYMAN – 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.

        1
        2

Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.