Firetruck swipes SUV at major GT junction
Collision involving a fire truck, June 2018
(CNS): Police were on the scene of yet another alarming collision in George Town on Tuesday, after a firetruck reportedly collided with an SUV, flipping the vehicle into the air. The crash happened just after 2pm at the junction of Shedden Road and North Sound Road in central George Town, close to Jacques Scott. The female driver of the SUV was taken to hospital, having escaped the major collision with what appears to be non-life threatening injuries.
Police said that motorists are being advised to avoid the area. It is, however, one of the capital’s busiest junctions.
Following the police report, the Home Affairs Ministry confirmed the involvement of a member of the Cayman Islands Fire Service (CIFS) in the collision and said it had “deployed an independent qualified accident re-constructionist to the scene”.
Officials said that the fire service was committed to working with him and the police in a thorough investigation to establish the cause of the crash.
Category: Local News
Where as all the comments here have their own merits. I can say without a doubt that the sirens are very low, you can’t hear them unless they are close to you. I see the blue lights before I hear the sirens, really I do. With the modern cars, and the way they are built to be quiet on the inside, you really need to pay attention even if you are playing the radio/music at a normal level you cant hear a thing. Drivers just have to be more aware and cautious when driving.
Well observed comment on the sound insulation in later model vehicles. Older vehicles not so well insulated. I own a late model CRV & have had emergency vehicles come up behind ( when I didn’t notice in the mirror ) to not hear them until right on top of you. Its not so much the glass, as the sound deadening materials & plastics , I imagine. When coming at you in front , at least you can see the lights. This is of course assuming lights used in conjunction with siren.
A trend also seen lately is vehicles tending to run the orange light well into its 1 to 2 second overlap in time duration towards the red traffic signal , not implying this was a factor in this incident.
Was the fire truck using their sirens or just driving?
It wasn’t fire engine truck…it was pick up truck.
Okay, semantics, were they using their siren? The report didn’t state but everyone here is talking about her not getting out of the way. I’m wondering if everyone presumed, because it’s an emergency vehicle, that is was dispatched.
Motorists need to pay more attention when they hear sirens, many of then have music so loud, they really don’t hear them.
How do you know the driver of the SUV heard the sirens?
I doubt anyone would hear or see a big-a$$ fire truck coming and choose to ignore it!
There are many drivers that both hear and see large EMS vehicles all the time and fail to yield or stop as required by law. The EMS vehicles should all be equipped with cameras to play-back the plate numbers of those idiots that impeded their call. If we’re looking for a $10,000 traffic infraction, this ought to be it.
9:30am , you would be surprised, some people think they own the road and don’t worry about a big a@@ fire truck until it’s in your face , or got you upside down like what happened .
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed it, but I find that with these modern sirens it is very difficult to determine which direction the emergency vehicle is coming from; and you only really know once the vehicle is almost on top of you.
Maybe we can go back to some more old-fashioned sirens, because you could tell straight away from which direction the emergency vehicle was traveling.
The UK have had directional sirens for years. They rely on two different sounds, one a standard down, the second is used as you approach a junction.
Common sense would tell you if you hear one getting louder, pull off the side of the road or stop.
You dont need to know where its coming from.
Yes you do, you would not stop on a dual carriageway separated by a median for an emergency vehicle coming in the opposite direction.
Well you certainly slow down until you figure out where it’s coming from instead of just driving like an a hole.
That’s were your eyes are supposed to come in. You hear the siren and look for the EMS vehicle – then prepare to clear their path BEFORE they arrive.
When you hear the siren you pull over immediately. That’s the rule. You seem to think that you should only pull over to let them overtake you, and others seem to think that the siren is a good opportunity for them to overtake others who are pulling over.
It’s a massive bright red truck with flashing lights on top. If you don’t see it till it’s on top of you please stop driving.
Ambulances and Fire trucks have a history of overturning themselves. They are appalling drivers when responding to an emergency. Its like an excuse to drive reckless.
Exactly @ 9:11 am
Well said.
How about some old fashioned paying attention, using mirror, knowing the rules. That would go a long way to easing the dangerous driving on the roads.
And why shouldn’t anyone be surprised? A combination of appalling general standards in driving and the same standard applied to a fire truck, oh god what could go wrong?
Whilst the police will get to bottom of who was at fault, Cayman must address the standards of driving and stop the carnage.
Raise the standard of the basic test and test all expats who do not hold a UK license, (imagine the revenue). We should also put advice cards in all hire cars, especially those which are left hand drive or whose odometers are in KPH.
And before the whiners start and question the UK standard, do your homework, it’s one of the highest standards in the world and would easily apply here if the political will to implement a significant road safety policy was there.
To release drivers from third world countries onto roads which are already filled with the hopeless, inattentive and erratic is a recipe for disaster. Then add US drivers that are used to driving on the right, constantly break island speed limits and aren’t used to driving on roads with roundabouts or bends in, and boom!
There you go again blaming all other nationalities.. In the USA you get Drivers Ed as an elective in high school, usually taken during summer school. Your parents insurance then gives a discount and you get a new driver that knows the rules of the road rather than learning how to drive from the parents that don’t know the rules of the road. In Cayman, you have to pay for driving lessons and most Caymanians don’t think it’s necessary.
Errr not really. The original poster had a very valid point. The UK has a stringent test, and has a very low death rate on the roads, much lower than the USA too.
The problem here is that the horse has long since bolted. Too many crap drivers, nonsensical road layouts and plain dangerous designs.
Kudos to the police who seem to have started enforcing some traffic laws, but much more is needed still. In fact, please train some of these cops too, their driving is pretty terrible too. I’ve seen them with no seatbelts on, speeding in general traffic and not using signals.
Bah. I give up. We are screwed.