Police round up weekend drunk drivers
(CNS): Officers from the RCIPS Traffic and Roads Policing Unit arrested ten drunk drivers over the weekend, half of whom were more than double the legal limit, and attended 26 road crashes. In one case the driver assaulted the police after they roused her from what appeared to be a drunken state of unconsciousness while her car engine was still running and the vehicle had mounted a road median. Three other drunk drivers were also arrested last week, and police remain concerned about the persistent problem of people driving while intoxicated.
“We are continuing to see far too many persons who not only choose to drive while under the influence, but choose to do so with a blood alcohol level over twice, and sometimes three times, the legal limit,” said Chief Inspector Everton Spence, who oversees the TRPU. “This is unacceptable, and we will continue to prosecute anyone driving under the influence, no matter what day of the week or time of day they choose to do so.”
From the 13 arrests over one week, police singled out two situations where they had to deal with excessively drunk people. Just after 11:00pm on Saturday, 21 July, officers on patrol on the Linford Pierson Highway spotted a driver having difficulty remaining in one lane. They pulled up alongside the vehicle and instructed him to pull over, but the man stopped his car while still in the roadway. The officers told him to pull off to the side of the road, but as the driver attempted to do that, he drove up onto the kerb.
As he got out of the car, as directed by the officers, he appeared unsteady on his feet and slurred his words. He was also unable to provide a driver’s licence, and when breathalyzed, the 52-year-old man from George Town was more than two times over the limit. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI and driving without being qualified after officers found his driver’s licence had expired six years ago.
Earlier that day at around 2:00am, officers on patrol on Esterley Tibbetts Highway saw a car that had mounted the median just south of the Cost-U-Less roundabout. A woman was observed to be asleep inside with the engine still running. She regained consciousness as police approached but became very aggressive towards officers.
As they moved to arrest her on suspicion of DUI, she became extremely disorderly and assaulted two of the officers, one of whom sustained lacerations to his face and head. The 25-year-old woman from West Bay was eventually arrested on suspicion of DUI, disorderly conduct and assaulting police.
In another incident, at 8:15am on Tuesday, 17 July, during the morning commute, police responded to a report of a two-vehicle smash near the Cayman National roundabout. One of the drivers, a man age 50 of George Town, who appeared to be intoxicated, was breathalyzed and arrested on suspicion of DUI after he was found to be almost three times over the limit.
Every time I’ve called a taxi in the last 6 months it’s arrived quickly, and cost a sensible amount. $16 to Pappagallo from Calico’s on Friday night.
Last night I got a bus home from the same venue at 10pm, it cost $2.
Not sure what people are complaining about. Much cheaper than wrecking my car, or killing someone by driving drunk.
What about all the during the week drunk drivers?
Seems like no one in these islands wants to take responsibility for their own actions, locals and expats alike. A young guy in Northside speeds in his car and kills himself, the community blames the police for his death, for not stepping up patrols. A bunch of people continue to defy logic and the law and get wasted every weekend (some every day) in these islands and make the selfish decision each time to get behind the wheel and drive. Apparently, its the governments fault for this repeated behaviour, for not having a more robust, regulated taxi/bus service, and the taxi/bus drivers for overcharging ? All of this flying in the face of the RCIP campaigning against drunk driving, down to where they’re are practically begging people to drive only when sober ???? Down right pathetic for all those involved.
Very hypocritical for a small society like cayman who bash the government and the police at the earliest opportunity for everything under the sun, but when it comes time to recluse responsibility from society and offload liability for uncivilised, localised behavour, everything gets placed right back on the police and the government to solve and mitigate.
Just got home, drinking since 4, can’t catch me .
You won’t last long.
Gingerbread Man…………what an arseh… you are!! It’s people like you that have made this island go down the pan at an amazing rate!
It’s true that cabs can be expensive and are in limited supply. But that’s definitely no excuse for drinking and driving. Rotating the role of being the ‘designated driver’ can be a great solution. Everyone else in the group pays for your (soft) drinks all night and it can be quite an entertaining experience being sober with your drunk buddies :). Stay safe Cayman.
I hate hanging out with drunk people. Rather we all take a reasonably priced cab home.
leep up good wk rcip….ww dont need drunks on the road….????☺
… or making comments on CNS
Great Job RCIPS! Keep it going. May I add that in the district of Northside instead of setting up speed traps and traffic stops at midday it should be done closer to/after sunset when all of the liquored up “Speed demons” come tearing out of there! It happens every Sunday evening like clockwork.
How many of these were stopped in South Sound?
Fix Public Transport, a well regulated cab system to start with with card requirements (or even better a system like the oyster card in the UK with central management and top up)
That is the first step into getting this problem sorted out
There have been many times when I have gone out and haven’t been able to get a cab home because no one picks up or they tell you they’re going to be there in 10 mins so you sit patiently on the curb waiting and no one ever shows.
The backwards cab system costs the Cayman economy so much money. Waiting an hour for a cab to get ripped off $50 to go 5 miles ruins the night. I don’t bother going out much any more. Probably saves me at least $500 a month.
I honestly don’t think that it would matter to ‘some’ people if proper, reliable forms of transport were available for them to get home. There are a lot of people who feel that it is their right to drive, even if they have been drinking and are over the limit. I know someone who is an ex police officer and he does it too – disgusting, but true.
How is this first step to solving driving? What kind of backwards logic is that? How about stop driving while intoxicated? Why is it so hard for people to take responsibility for their own actions?
And they want liquor stores and the selling of liquor available 24/7s including Sundays. About its a free enterprise money thing!
Thanks to certain of our government leaders more DUI, more domestics, more crime!
THE STATISTICS WILL NOT LIE
It doesn’t matter if liquor stores are open or not, that’s not gonna change the amount of drink driving on the roads. You can get booze on a Sunday you do know this right? The problem is the taxis who have overcharged for so long that no one wants to call them. It’s going to be too expensive and sometimes they don’t show up. Say I was drinking on a Sunday on my bbq ran out of booze, I would gladly call a cab to take me to buy more if that cab didn’t cost $30 round trip to run me just up the road and back. Now that’s just an example, I would never under stock for a bbq or risk a dui. I’m just stating the reason why we have so many dui’s. I know it doesn’t make sense to risk it to save $50, but people are!
The cost is one issue, the availability is the other. They are no where to be seen after midnight on Friday and Saturday. Might have something to do with the Cab drivers mostly being 50+ years old, but they don’t seem to want to work nights, (when most people require a cab to avoid drinking and driving)
It’s a simple equation:
Chance of being caught driving drunk: slim to almost none as long as I can confidently and correctly operate my vehicle.
Chance of not spending a whole tank’s worth of gas money on a taxi and getting whatever I’m driving to get much faster: 100%.
The brain produces the logical answer: drive. Ride the odds. If it was a bet in poker you’d take it every time and if you lost you’d know as a matter of mathematical certainty that you just had bad luck. So it is with drunk driving in Cayman.
The reason they’re netting people two and three times over the limit is because they cannot correctly operate their vehicles and are too drunk to appreciate that fact. They are simply too drunk. They have not just relaxed their brains; they have disabled them, and the question of whether or not to drive is either not even asked internally, or if it is, the alcohol answers ‘you can drive, get in the damn car.’
I know, because I’ve had a DUI. And no, I don’t drive drunk anymore. Because if you get caught, it isn’t worth it. But only if you get caught. Anyone whose parents told them “don’t let me catch you [do forbidden thing] again” knows it’s whether you get caught that matters, not what you do.
Sorry to anyone offended by this, but it’s the truth of the jungle the world really is.
Would you prefer I pop up to Peanuts and grab my bottle of rum to take home and consume or sit at the open bar all day drinking then drive home? The choice is yours, I’m getting happy either way.
“happy”
Judge not, that ye be not judged.