Police deal with 32 Christmas crashes
One of 32 Christmas crashes
(CNS): There were 32 crashes on the roads of Grand Cayman over the three-day Christmas holiday, according to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service. Between Monday, 24 December, and Thursday morning there were 20 smashes in George Town alone; at least a dozen of the 32 collisions were serious, with people being injured and in some cases trapped in their cars and some vehicles overturned. Three drivers involved in serious smashes were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. With the New Year weekend approaching, police once again urged people not to drink and drive and use the Purple Ribbon Bus System or appoint a sober designated driver.
The RCIPS urged drivers to stay safe over the holiday season, especially on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, by taking the following precautions:
- Do not to drink and drive; instead, use the Purple Ribbon Bus Service or appoint a sober designated driver.
- Do not to use cell phones while driving. Pull off the road when it safe to do so to make phone calls or texts.
- Drive within the speed limits and if it’s raining, reduce speed by 10 miles per hour to compensate for the slick roadway.
- Look out for roadblocks and traffic stops and slow down as soon as they are in your sights. Come to a complete stop when you reached the officers.
- Be vigilant and attentive whilst driving. Don’t get distracted by passenger or electronic devices in the vehicle.
Category: Crime, Crime Prevention, Police
I overheard a senior public servant say to one of his staff during a discussion about the consumption of alcohol in the office and driving, that he wasn’t worried ‘he knows the police commissioner’. Seriously how is Cayman going to get better with this kind of mentality?
I watched Bird Box the other day. The scenes with people crashing on the roads, it looked Caymanesque.
“Lane discipline”, ie. staying inside the painted lines, is too much to ask of many sober road users due to a combination of user laziness/road-racing, and the disruptive curve geometry and fouled line painting by an illogical and seemingly unsupervised NRA. Add in the merciless foot-high curving, drugs and booze, and near-zero enforcement of anything, and it’s a recipe for car-flipping and avoidable road-user deaths.
How does the RCIPS expect our unlicensed drivers to understand concepts like “yielding to right of way”, “signaling intentions”, the purpose of tire tread, vehicle dynamics and spin physics? If we’re going to continue to allow disqualified stoned drivers and unlicensed disqualified vehicles on our roads, we’ll all need to lower our expectations to the prevailing enforcement standard set by the mythical “Traffic Unit”.
Item #3 in the list should be underlined. I’m so glad to see it print, slow down when it’s raining and turn on your lights. And quit tailgating and use your indicators, always.
Let’s be clear. I’m a better driver after half a dozen caybrews than every single stone cold sober taxi and bus driver on this island.
Yes, drink driving is a problem here but it’s mostly attributable to people who are terrible drivers anyway. In any normally policed road system every bus driver on island would have been arrested and disqualified for repeatedly pulling out in front of fast moving traffic from a position at the side of a main road that hadn’t been designated as a bus stop. I’ve yet to see a taxi anywhere on island, ever, indicate to exit a roundabout. Given their driving abilities I’d rather take my chances half cut and drive myself than catch a ride with one of these chiselling amateur drivers. This sums up the reality.
Anyone ever been waiting to enter a roundabout and someone who is already on the roundabout, without signalling, turns off the roundabout to your right? That happens to me probably 50 times a week. These dinlos are halving (at best) the capacity of the roundabout. That’s why roundabouts don’t work here. Nothing to do with the design and everything to do with the 80% of Jim Henson boss eyes that don’t know how to use them. I agree with the folks up thread. Get rid of the roundabouts and put in traffic lights. Even the most imbecilic, rabbit in the headlights driver understands what a red is. Keep them at a standstill as far away as possible from me while I’m trying to negotiate a junction in my car with my family.
Failing that, park rcips at Butterfield and issue immediate $50 fines to anyone who doesn’t signal on existing the roundabout or drives the whole way round in the outside lane. Anywhere else this would be enforced. Plod would make a fortune in an afternoon and everyone would be using their indicators within a week.
Pastor Alfredo
The point made here about the roundabouts is spot on. Lots of people complain about traffic and gridlock, yet most of them unwittingly (because they don’t actually think about their driving habits) cause it.
The lack of indicating here is legendary. FFS most cars are also automatics, so it’s not like you don’t have the opportunity to move a little plastic stalk up or down, and for advanced people, both!
The LPH roundabouts are particular favorites. Near king’s gym, you have idiots going past the DVDL then using the right lane to enter the right lane of the LPH. This is despite lots of cars in the left lane, correctly, going straight ahead in the left lane. This could be fixed with clear signage, but alas, no.
At the other end of the LPH (Bobby Thompson Way), the one with the saddest Christmas decor I’ve ever seen, is where the awards go for “Least use of indicators”. This is for traffic entering and leaving from all three directions. Funnily enough, this is a key area of gridlock.
As for the two roundabouts in the middle, it’s almost as if there is a geo fence block on people indicating.
For the record, the imbeciles above are all ages, colors and genders. Stupidity knows no limits.
Perfectly stated.
I think you are totally wrong. From the right hand lane past DVDL you can properly go to either the right hand lane of the LPH, to Crewe Road (towards the airport) or to the right hand lane on the road past Kings heading towards Hurleys. From the left hand lane past DVDL you can only go to Old Crewe Road or the left lane of the LPH – Going “straight through” from the left hand lane means going to the left hand lane of the LPH – Crewe road towards the airport is the third exit, not the second.
Crewe Road is straight on. As is the condo complex.
The layout and lack of signs are a disaster.
Just the fact that people use the left lane to go to Crewe Road should tell you not to bother using the right lane.
Yet, you yourself fail to realize that traffic is allowed to use both the left and right lanes to exit, whereas the left lane is for exiting at the next stop. You can’t orbit in the left lane. Agreed that EVERYBODY exiting any roundabout should be signaling, every time. Signaling within the roundabout is also a courteous extra that I appreciate. Overtaking in the roundabout is not allowed – that’s so that traffic can safely merge and change lanes and exit without some yahoo in the left lane racing across your bow to orbit around to another exit. This is probably 90% of the accidents. There are others that don’t feel they need to yield at all to traffic arriving from the right. If they’re in a big bus or truck, or feel they’ve waited long enough, or size you up and just plain don’t like the look of you, they’ll just pull out to obstruct. Time and time again. I instinctively cover my horn and expect this to happen now. The RCIPS don’t seem to have been trained to know how roundabouts work, or know what behaviours obstruct and endanger this system – not owning this as part of their traffic scope, and not appreciating this is a serious problem endangering the public and impairing traffic flow, and GDP for those that were in transit to do something productive for society…insurance companies will confirm the Butterfield is the most active and dangerous circle on island with a near collision scenario every other minute.
Show me where it says that?
As for not orbiting in the left lane, Crewe Road is not more than 12 o clock. Also, on the very same roundabout, traffic from LPH going toward Grand Harbour goes in the left lane, which is well past ‘straight on’. This just has signage to clarify.
All it needs is a sign, like the butterfield roundabout.
You are arrogant, and most likely a general pain in the ass. Yes, you are a better driver drunk than ANY taxi or bus driver. Right. Excellent rant.
Try helping people through the traffic sometime, see how it works for you. Give them a flash of the lights, ease the merging once you can see their intent.
ANYbody can rant. It takes sand to attempt solutions. We all live here, and apparently SOME of us are chronically in a big hurry. Slow down, leave home early, be helpful and see how much better things can be walking with the light, Mr. Pastor.
By definition, there is no safe level of impaired driving…because you are clinically impaired after 2 beers, maybe 3 if you’re really fat. How do people not know this?
The penalty for using a mobile whilst driving clearly isn’t enough of a deterrent to change the culture here….the courts should be given appropriate powers to hammer offenders, perhaps $1000 fine or if you’re an expat a couple of offences and the permit is pulled-that would change the attitude towards driving and go some way to improve driver behaviour. Additionally, the shambles of the ‘inspection’ needs sharpening up-if the assessment was only half as stringent as those carried out in the UK then literally hundreds of unroadworthy and frankly dangerous vehicles would be removed from the road and require repair and inspection before being certified safe-this is a money making initiative for the CIG and would also improve road safety. Blaming roundabouts and rain shows that there is a long way to go to improve safety-32 collisions in one day in what is a community the size of a small town in the US/Canada/UK is a joke but not a funny one.
stop tailgating and use your indicators….that would be a big help.
along with the police farce doing their job of law enforcement.
…pun intended with “Farce”…?
Whilst there are a LOT of poor drivers around. Most of the issues on the round abouts can be blamed on poor design. A lot of them were built with the road sloping outward to drain water away from the center. Instead the road should slope inwards and have drainage in the center. Add a light rain along with an outward sloping surface on a bend and you lose traction very easily. They fixed the round about just east of Hurley’s and it would be interesting to see the data on accident occurrence from before and after.
People dont know how to drive in roundabouts. Plain and simple.
The camber on roads is outward not inward for very good reasons. Drainage down the middle? As soon as it clogs it will turn the road into a river. Also the camber gently turns cars away from centre, rather than towards centre. Better that sleepy drivers hit the left edge rather than go across the road.
one reason for this. Roundabouts. Look where the accidents happen. No where near stop lights. Always on roads with roundabouts. With solar lighting, there is no excuse not to have lights instead of roundabouts. They try to figure out how to remove congestion. Lights would do it. Roundabouts do not. All roundabouts do is give one particular road the right of way. Like the roundabout by the abandoned car wash near on the run or the alikabob van. IF your coming from prospect in the morning, you get the right of way, creating a HUGE line of cars coming from savannah and east end. Put in solar stop lights. And that problem goes away. The island is far to small with too much traffic for roundabouts to work any longer.
Um, nope.
I’ve seen plenty of crashes at traffic light junctions, bad ones too. It seems 3 light colors can confuse people after all.
Another thing people need to understand and learn if how to use a f’n roundabout. I almost got sideswiped by mini-van because he didn’t know how to use a roundabout. One guess on his nationality and yes he had the little flag hanging from his mirror.
10:39, I have learnt that if someone can’t wait in a simple line, they surely can’t act civil on the road. What you do at home, you take a foreign.
Stop importing them .
There are still far too many safety-deficit vehicles being relicensed with “a wink and a nod” in a dangerous, unroadworthy, polluting, or otherwise non-compliant condition. Many cars, trucks and buses seemingly passing with bald tires, tinted windows, plates, and indicators, illegal suspension coil-overs, exhausts, Ben Hur lug bolts, or spouting thick smoke. The garages that relicensed these accident-prone vehicles need to be sanctioned and/or removed from the DVDL approved-garage network. There are businesses selling used old expired and threadbare tires! It is a serious problem. If the RCIPS where to cross-reference the plates of the many crashed safety-deficient vehicles, against the short list of authorized relicensing centers, I suspect there would be high correlation to a couple garages in particular. That’s before the other accident variables of booze, drugs, and weather enter the picture.
But the garage owners are related to MLAs in some way. All 3rd cousins twice removed. Can’t have relatives being investigated for malpractice and then put out of work can we?
A lot of it is not drinking and driving either (although I’m sure some cases were), but rather the slippery and wet roads. It is very dangerous to drive on these roads, especially considering the fact that we have so many roundabouts. Drivers, please take extra caution when driving around these roundabouts and drive slower than normal.
We have constant slippery and wet roads in the UK cos it’s always raining! That’s nothing to do with it. Drivers must drive according to road conditions and don’t ho down the road of blaming roundabouts for heavens sake!!
Well consistent rain will clean roads better of oil and other slippery substances. The odd rain won’t and will cause slippery roads when driven by maniacs like the ones here.
Omg!! Mainly down to DRINK, DRUGS, SPEED and CARELESSNESS!! People will NEVER learn on this island. The lack of a public vehicle service or cheap taxi travel is no excuse whatsoever for this inexcusable behaviour. What does it take you people to realise the danger of this? You clearly have no idea that where there is actions there will always be consequences……sadly many fatal.
Way to go, Einstein, you named most the causes of any crashes in the world. The smashes because of dui would go down with a more affordable and reliable car service.
Why not try it out for a year? Allow uber and make taxis use a meter to see what the results are. They will most likely curb road smashes and dui’s. Just saying…
Our laws already require taxis to use meters. Our laws are rarely our problem. It is the ignorance of those paid to enforce them that is the problem – and yes cops, that includes you!
Presumptuous much? You have no idea who the drivers were, where they are from, how long they’ve been here nor the cause of the accidents but somehow you jump to conclusions. How does CNS attract so many know-it-alls that seem to know so little?
I was a Traffic Officer within RCIPS 11.58am that’s how I know the reasons for so many of these accidents. I don’t need to be Einstein cos it’s not rocket science.
Lack of affordable public transport IS a huge problem though
From the driving I saw on the roads that must mean that only 1 in a 1000 people driving blind drunk was involved in a reported accident – way to go.
Too many people who never sat behind the steering wheel of an automobile, until they arrive in Cayman, is the problem. Coupled with the usual percentage of the local population that can’t drive only exasperates the problem.
It exacerbates it too.
solution: dash cams cost peanuts. fit them on all police cars. record all offences. fine people in the post. people will soon learn.
Or just make the cops get out of their car instead of only driving around in the AC. The amount of crazy drivers I see pass an on duty cop who does NOTHING is astounding.
That’s assuming you get your post pal which is quite a big assumption. I’m still waiting for my last two license stickers from the Driving Agency where I click send by post on the online portal but they never arrive.
Caribbean drivers with no drivers education. If CIG knew what they were doing there would be much tighter measures in place to screen driving skills.
Get rid of the Geneva Transfer, especially for Caribbean islands.
Thank goodness there is no snow or icy conditions down there for the drivers to contend with.
It would be utter carnage. None of these people could cope on a UK road.
Oh I see, RCIP are “urging” drivers to obey the laws. Now we’ll be ok!
When will the cops realise that the only way to prevent these accidents is to enforce the law 24/7 all year? Stop asking or “urging” the law abiding public. Most of us obey these laws. Start catching the criminals on the roads. You need to make at least 20 arrests a day for 365 days before anyone takes the cops seriously.
It is ok making 20 arrests a day but there is back up support staff to deal with the mountains of paperwork and unless you have on the spot fines and a requirement to carry id the courts will grind to a halt
Huh? Rubbish. It’s down to laziness.
I think you can find officers out of the 400+ you have allocated to the RCIPS to handle the “mountain of paper-work”.
We all have paper-work to contend with at our jobs….no excuse.
Why is there even paperwork! The whole thing can be done instantaneously including paying fines at the freaking roadside! The fact that there is paperwork for traffic offenses in this day and age is just further evidence of disfunction and incompetence.
No roadside payment that’s only going to cause issues like cops taking the money and not turning it in.
Debit or credit card
Not everyone has. It’s a rubbish idea. Mail in your fines or pay online like the rest of the world.
Or even a pre numbered receipt.
32 actioned….plenty of rain-belt single car incidents where the crashee simply drives off on their rims dangling sparking body work…the CCTV aren’t actually manned are they?!? Who is the supervising agency in charge of roadway CCTV network that cost us millions?
LOL. Everything I have heard about the CCTV system here in Cayman is that it does not function. I hope I am incorrect, and if so why is it not available online to the public as many other cameras are… all around the world.
Rodney it’s called secrecy control . You probably can’t see it on the Island , wha ya think online .
No one on this island knows where they are going…. and the rest don’t care about anyone else on the roads
Christmas is one day. Always has been and always will be.
west indian driving standards are abysmal.
Thank God Cayman is northwest Caribbean???
Cayman Islands, BWI.
AND……..your point is?????
That you’re an idiot.
You do know what BWI stands for right?
Yes, and the B should be what determines our driving standards and the enforcement of them.
I wonder what caused so many accident in three days ? That many didn’t happen per capita in the State where I live with about 1 million cars and people. IS IT
(1) drinking and driving
(2) poorly designed round abouts
(3) poor driving skills
(4) bad tires / bad roads
(5) or all the above .
While you drive remember that metal you’re sitting in has no feelings and life .
Let’s not forget rampant phone usage while behind the wheel.
I ventured out once, never again, people go mad I mean MAD
Or you could do what I do on New Year’s Eve – stay off the roads and drink the good stuff with a few friends at home. The sad fact of life is you can spend the evening stone cold sober then, as happened to a long-time friend of mine in the USA who was a designated driver on NYE, get taken out by some drunken a***hole. Thankfully, that a***hole is now going to enjoy his holidays for the foreseeable future in a 6×8 cell. What we are lacking in these islands is a tough vehicular homicide law – under that anyone who tried to drive home totally ratted and killed someone could be locked up pretty much indefinitely.
It’s true. Whenever I’m DD I’m terrified by the amount of bad drivers on the road I pass. I’m worried someone is going to crash into me and leave my children motherless. How is it we all see this but there are no police parked on the side of the roads to pull them over? Makes me livid.
The crux is that it’s not perceived to be a problem by the (alcoholic) public and politicians who really enjoy driving drunk regularly and getting away with it. That’s part of their renegade quality of life index, and regular weekly schedule. Even the police are driving around drunk and crashing their brand new cruisers in single car flips in the middle of the afternoon…add in ministers, senior government officials, and Grand Court Judges and that’s the very low moral justice benchmark that law and life-loving civilians have to make peace with. There doesn’t seem to be any support for criminalizing DUI or more than the lightest possible seasonal enforcement.
Also, wear your seatbelts, you bunch of idiots. I reckon it’s running at about 25% of all drivers on the roads.
It’s mildly dumb to not bother in a country that has mostly reasonable drivers and roads, but here, if you don’t wear it, you’re just asking to be propelled through the glass.
When I took my Cayman Islands drivers test (many years ago), I got one of the multiple choice questions wrong: to my horror, it was actually legal (and encouraged) for drivers to position flailing infants not in an approved car seat, but in their open arms, while driving, sandwiching the precious infant between the killer steering wheel airbag and crumpling decelerating driver occupant. You really can’t make this stuff up. We still see free-range children’s heads moving around the back of cars, mounting and dismounting seats…and scratch our heads at the parent complacency that would allow this in a moving vehicle.
In first world countries children are taken away from parents if they are not properly restrained in moving vehicles. Adults can decide if they want to endanger their own lives by not wearing a seat belt but should not be putting babies and children in danger by not restraining them in vehicles. Why this blatant child endangerment is ignored here is beyond me.