Dirt bike rider killed in WB crash

| 05/08/2019 | 52 Comments
Scene of fatal road accident in West Bay, 4 August 2019 (Photo courtesy RCIPS)

(CNS): A young dirt bike rider was pronounced dead at the Cayman Islands Hospital early Monday morning, some eight hours after he was involved in a crash on Watercourse Road in West Bay on Sunday evening. The police said that the rider, who was travelling northeast near Ruby Lane, lost control of the bike and fell into the opposite lane, where he was hit by an oncoming vehicle. When emergency services arrived at the scene of the collision yesterday evening, the rider was still responsive and he was taken to the hospital, police said. But just before 2:00am Monday, he succumbed to his injuries. 

Police have not yet identified the rider or given any details about the bike he was riding. But the issue of unlicensed, off-road bikes being ridden by young men, in particular, has been a significant concern for police for some time.

This latest death on local roads is now being investigated by the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit, which has closed Watercourse Road between Hillandale drive and Alexandria Close.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: , ,

Category: Local News

Comments (52)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Anonymous says:

    The victim of this crash was 50+ years old!

  2. Anonymous says:

    build a bike track for the youths an stop neglecting them bikelife is the best thing in cayman for the youths cause a job is the hardest thing to get an CAYMAN IS BORINGGGGGGGGGGGGG

    7
    25
  3. Anonymous says:

    Please, suggestions as to what the police do with them, based on current legislation.

    Assuming they get caught, the punishments are minor.

    Stopping them in the first place? Good luck. Suggestions as to how to stop them please.

    10
    1
    • Anonymous says:

      (a) Leave headquarters clubhouse during shift (b) respond to public complaints – in some cases, mere yards from HQ (c) show up to confront bikers with ticket book, not 8th warnings. The police are 400+, have bikes and cruiser fleet themselves, and a helicopter. They just don’t want to or can’t be bothered to involve themselves. Instead, they encourage hooliganism via stunt riding clinics!!

      18
      1
    • Anonymous says:

      Is there any land available anywhere to build a proper motocross track? If you had the land it wouldn’t take long with a bulldozer to lay out the basics of a track. Could do with a go kart track while we’re at it.

      4
      10
  4. Anonymous says:

    how can parents think that their kids owning a dirtbike is a good idea????

    29
    2
  5. Anonymous says:

    For the record, I made a compliant to 911 about dirt bike rider in my neighborhood, making noise on a Sunday. If police can check them out. The 911 operator told me they don’t do that. There is no crime. … To tell you the truth, in sum, the operator was very disrespectful to me over the phone. The rider was also causing a disturbance. The bike engines are very loud!

    47
    4
    • Anonymous says:

      But the commissioner along with support staff from the RCIP were on the radio talk show just the other week and said to call 911 if anyone saw bad traffic behavior, but I also called about a group of riders darting between vehicles in the evening rush hour traffic on Linford Pearson road only to be told they can not do anything about it. Seems everyone is way to busy these days for enforcement.

      24
    • Anonymous says:

      Only in Jamaica/New York town cayman they have these wannabe bike riders! They all do the same LaMe stunts and somehow they think they’re game is so sick.

      12
      1
    • Anonymous says:

      I agree on this one

  6. Anonymous says:

    does the police commissioner still believe that ‘law enforcement for dirt bikes is not the answer’???

    23
  7. satirony says:

    There’s a pack of them that rides through Savannah. The numbers I’ve witnessed recently range from 5 to 11. They dodge between cars in the dark, without lights or reflectors. Since even I know where two of these bikes are kept, just by keeping my eyes open, there’s little excuse for the Police to do nothing.

    To be fair to the Police, the Law must be changed to help them seize bikes and obtain convictions. The politicians are equally guilty through legislative inaction, since this has been going on for years. I was nearly killed by a dirt bike doing a 50 mph wheelie in the dark, so I feel strongly about this endless anarchy on the road, as do most other road users.

    61
    • Stop the madness says:

      The goveremt does not care. CNS please FOI how much the Government spent to send the 20 bikes from Grand Cayman to the Brac in July this year to do the same thing Wheeling etc at the people expense. RIP VB.

      CNS: Anyone can do an FOI and they can do so anonymously. Here’s how to do it.

      4
      1
      • Anonymous says:

        CNS: It clearly says in the attachment that you must supply a name and contact details, does this mean I can invent a name and use an anonymous email address?

        CNS: I have to admit that when we make FOI requests we do so via email and openly as CNS. Unless the rules have changed, you can make an FOI from an email address without revealing who you are – you don’t have to use the form. However, we haven’t put this to the test for a while so I shall pass the question on to Auntie. In the meantime, if you do make an FOI request anonymously via email, remember that you are asking for documents – such as receipts. You can’t just ask random questions.

    • Anonymous says:

      satirony – if you know where two of them are kept, I hope you have done your civic duty and reported it to the Police.

  8. Anonymous says:

    this is every unfortunate….no one likes to see the loss of life like this.

    i have seen dirt bikers doing wheelies while crossing the lights at jacques scott and on the by passes. very reckless

    35
  9. Will unna stop playing with your lives now?? says:

    Will unna stop playing with your lives now?? You guys think you’re being cool by knowingly riding an illegal bike (unlicensed, no lights, no insurance), doing wheelies down West Bay Road. But you all are just setting yourselves up for a long prison sentence when you lose control of your bike and crash through somebody’s windshield! It is only a matter of time before you idiots kill some innocent person!

    62
  10. Anonymous says:

    Condolences to the family, RIP in peace Boo the person in question is in his mid 50s not quite a young man, and this was a one-off tragic accident he did not partake in riding dirt bikes on the street

    21
    3
  11. Anonymous says:

    Dirt tires on blacktop = a crash. Very sad for the family but no real surprises here.

    11
    1
  12. Anonymous says:

    Someone was bound to kill one of these guys. Sorry for the loss, but now some innocent person just driving along will have to live with the pain of killing someone. If the police would take road safety seriously this may have been avoided.

    80
    7
    • Anonymous says:

      Did you seriously just blame the police? A lot of people on Cayman roads do not follow proper driving rules. If people actually read the road test manual instead of buying their licenses because they can’t read, then maybe some accidents could be avoided.

      12
      15
      • Anonymous says:

        Yup, because when people feel enforcement won’t catch them they don’t bother to follow the law. Thus, this.

        25
        1
  13. David. S says:

    Must wear helmets and road tests needed to license people how to ride them. Too much free for all here.Safety is #1
    Driving cats need lessons
    Riding dirt bikes is also necessary to learn h pie to ride them safely.

    26
    4
    • Anonymous says:

      I somehow don’t think wearing a helmet would have made much difference in this case. We all know these bikes get ridden all over the island every weekend, and often in-between in the evenings. They’re a extremely dangerous nuisance and PoPo does almost the square root of FA about it.

      25
      1
    • Anonymous says:

      Agree but they don’t want to do so because they think they are invincible and the asphalt teaches them otherwise.

      13
  14. Anonymous says:

    I have been afraid something bad is going to happen to the young man who rides his bike recklessly up and down Tropical Garden Rd. Maybe he will read this and think twice

    47
    2
    • Anonymous says:

      Nope, every few years one meets his demise just like the public predicts and instead of taking heed and learning their lessons they ramp up the reckless street riding behaviour. Proclaiming that the decreased “didn’t know how to ride” and they do. They don’t even respect their fallen own, but claim to be part of a brotherhood.

      18
      • Anonymous says:

        No loyalty what you expect they’re riding displays this!! No self loyalty to begin with…

  15. David. S says:

    Maybe start prohibiting them, since it’s a public menace and public safety issue.Now is time to change the law.

    45
    4
    • Anonymous says:

      Ummm, the law is fine and already prohibits the behavior. The problem appears to be with the police and prosecutors.

      50
      5
    • Anonymous says:

      While we are at it why don’t we prohibit alcohol too and everything else that is bad for us?

      6
      12
  16. Edgar A. Poe says:

    I don’t see anywhere in the article that the rider was young or that the bike was illegal. Wouldn’t it be nice for once if people would offer sympathy without passing judgment especially without any details. RIP Sir.

    31
    26
  17. Bertie : B says:

    R.I.P young man , blessings to your family and friends , God Bless !

    21
    3
  18. XRP says:

    Blame this one on government. For years they have looked the other way, instead of enforcing the laws that they have on the books, cracking down on perpetrators, etc. The Wild Wild West mentality is finally coming home to roost.

    54
    6
  19. Anonymous says:

    Years and years of this loud and dangerous Evel-Knievel recklessness and public endangerment, and despite several young lives lost, the RCIPS look the other way and tell us how supportive they are being of the community…by hosting wheelie clinics. You can’t make this stuff up.

    60
    4
  20. Anonymous says:

    Now that someone has died, will the police actually start enforcing the law? There has been no effective enforcement. I saw at least three different illegal bikers over the weekend, one of whom was not even wearing a helmet and should be readily identifiable to any proper camera system.

    Condolences to the family, and to the person whose vehicle (through no fault of their own) was involved.

    90
    • Anonymous says:

      Now that someone has died will the rest of the dirt bike rides take warning? Probably not. The idiots in motor cars still tailgate, still pass on corners , still pass knto lane of oncoming traffic, still drive while on their phones. Etc, etc.

      19
      1
    • Anonymous says:

      the police comissioner said enforcement was not the answer!
      welcome to wonderland.

      17
      1
    • Anonymous says:

      You want them to start checking for dirtbike tint too? That’s all they do anyways…tint checks lol

      3
      4

Leave a Reply to Bertie : B 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.