Poor driving major issue for police

| 15/01/2020 | 120 Comments
Cayman News Service
Inspector Dwayne Jones, head of the RCIPS Traffic and Roads Policing Unit

(CNS): The number of cars on the road, tourists unfamiliar with driving on the left, a legacy of poorly engineered roads, too many foreign licence holders, or even a lack of enforcement have all been blamed for the traffic chaos the Cayman Islands is enduring, but the police say it’s all about poor driving. Inspector Dwayne Jones, head of the RCIPS Traffic and Roads Policing Unit, said drivers here need to take responsibility for their behaviour on the roads, which is fuelling the problems.

Speaking to CNS about the traffic situation and concerns about road safety that his team deal with daily, Jones said the idea that police are not enforcing the law is not true. Officers stopped and ticketed or prosecuted more than 1,300 drivers last month, which he said was a huge number.

“That really is way too much,” he stated, as he denied that his officers were not doing all they could to sanction those breaking the traffic laws. He said his officers were on the ground and working hard to enforce the law, but they cannot be everywhere. The level of poor driving, he explained, is such that it can’t be just about the police.

The traffic unit is dealing with, on average, at least ten collisions every single day as well as dozens of infractions, from illegal tint to people using mobile phones behind the wheel. But Jones said the main two issues causing the serious collisions are speeding and drunk drivers.

“Drivers must take responsibility for improving the quality of their driving and general courtesy on the roads,” he said. “They need to slow down, pay more attention and stop getting in their cars when they are drunk.”

Jones said that the primary concern for the police is saving lives and general road safety; they are not just looking to prosecute as many people as possible.

“Enforcement is part of our efforts to make the roads safe and we will continue that, but it’s not the only part. We are also focusing heavily on education and awareness in an effort to get drivers to take responsibility for their own poor driving.”

The senior officer said drivers must pay more due care and attention on the roads to reduce the traffic collisions and the congestion which everyone is worried about. “Drivers need to do some self assessment,” Jones told CNS, as urged everyone using the road to be more aware of what they are doing.

With a complement of 16 active officers, Jones has discussed expanding the unit with the commissioner, who, he said, is doing what he can now to increase the headcount. But Jones said technology can also help; radar and speed cameras on the road can be the virtual eyes of the police when the officers are elsewhere.

However, with or without an increase in his team or a rollout of more technology that could help curtail the bad driving, his officers will continue to be on the ground, pulling over those drivers not heeding the warnings to take more care and improve their driving habits and seizing every opportunity they get to educate all road users.

Jones noted that the fines can be pretty stiff and difficult to pay.

“No one likes to lose money, so stop giving your cash away unnecessarily,” he warned drivers, because that is exactly what is happening when they are ticketed or prosecuted for things that could easily be avoided.

Putting down the phone, keeping to the speed limits, wearing a seat belt, being courteous to other road users and paying the necessary attention will ensure they are not paying the courts instead, Jones advised.


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Category: Crime, Police

Comments (120)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Omg!! I may be 65yrs now but bring me back into the Traffic Dept., RCIPS.
    Then you’d see a difference in these violators.

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh hi, is this Kerney Gomez? Dial-up your hearing aid, your buddies have already appointed you as the next fall guy for the Port, and you’re going to be rich! Retirement saved!

  2. Anonymous says:

    Could the NRA please paint arrows on the road lanes leading from the direction of town into the roundabout at Lantern Point to tell drivers going to Shamrock Road ( ie past Ocean Club) NOT to go into the left hand/outside lane on the roundabout which should only be used for going onwards to the by pass road going to Newlands and not all the way round to Shamrock Road? Thanks.

    • Anonymous says:

      The NRA is another dept that needs a big shake-up. Is there anyone in charge right now? Is there even a senior supervisor? No designated bike lanes. Poor illumination on West Bay Road. A multitude of random new cross-walks that lead to a forest with no sidewalk(?). Malfunctioning lights. No speed limit signage. No roundabout instructions for visitors, poor signage on how to get from airport to hotels. Dangerous road geometry and physics-opposing line striping. Random lane closures. 3 lanes funneling suddenly turning into 2 or 1. Someone signed off on all of these obvious misfires. That person needs to be called back to the boardroom and fired. Is that person Joey Hew, or is it some DART executive that’s hijacked the entire department, and reshuffled all the priorities? We have all-hands-on-deck walls being built that weren’t even part of any version of the NRA agreement. The whole dept seems to be corrupted.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I think we can all agree that: 16/400+ officers (<4% of agency) assigned to a Traffic Dept, and a $200mln total defense budget = failing execution on the most obvious solution to the problem…if poor driving was honestly a concern of theirs. We need to stop the lying, propaganda, and bluntly, institutionalized theft, in this territory. It’s all we seem to get from those self-enthroned – free to siphon-off and misrepresent from their comfortable levers of power. 30+ years of annual excuse making should disgust everyone that has paid their tab, while foregoing a catalogue of other necessary services and infrastructure that might have been supported with just a portion of the misappropriation.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Third world policing a problem for law abiding drivers but a boon to criminals. If you were brought up to not follow laws then Cayman is the place for you.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Bad police work ethic a major issue for law abiding drivers on this third world island. No law enforcement and they can’t figure out on their own why drivers here are so bad. Maybe its a good thing that they are getting paid to not try and enforce laws. Courts can’t handle any more work anyway. Cayman.

  6. Anonymous says:

    I have looked at this article a couple of times in astonishment and just realised that the headling hits the nail on the head – “poor driving major issue for police”. Think this is what many posters have been trying to say.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yet, year-after-year, the most obvious solution to the equation: year-round field deployments – remains almost entirely ignored! We’re angry at the Police attempts to gaslight us into thinking they are doing “all they can”, or that next month it will be any better, when their only career performance yardsticks are the select uncorrelated crime statistics they bother to keep, to wow and applaud themselves at their Ritz-champagne ball.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Watched a car cross over a double line right by the compass building to get into the turning lane in front of a police officer who did nothing. Do laws even matter here?

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    • Anonymous says:

      You do realise that quite often police officers are engaged otherwise whilst driving, even if they’re not blaring out sirens and flashing lights? They may be attending a report that is important but not life or death, they may be transporting a person to the detention centre, they may be going to a pre arranged appointment etc.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    We could maybe ltake a few tips from Bermuda.. Heavy traffic not allowed during rush hour between 7.45 and 9.15am and 4.30-6pm…. One car per household ..limited size unless otherwise authorized, and Tourists cannot rent cars..only scooters. Only new or less than 6 months cars allowed to be imported…

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Build a metro rail from Shitty Hospital to George Town Hospital. It will reduce traffic.

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    • Anonymous says:

      If your mis-spelling of the founder of the wonderful Health City was deliberate, then shame on you. How disgusting can one be. As for your metro rail idea, good in theory but financially impractical. So just go away.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Not just financially. Who is going to run it? It would either crash or be in disrepair most of the time.

  10. Anonymous says:

    I witnessed a truck bypass traffic in Red bay to go and use the other entrance to the roundabout right in front of a motorcycle cop. It just shows that no one cares that there’s a police next to you because you know they probably won’t do anything. Great job police farce.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Lots of cars doing that every day because even if the cops are there they don’t do anything. Don’t know why they narrowed that down to 1 lane for 10 feet

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    • Anonymous says:

      They need to re do it and make 1 entrance.

  11. Anonymous says:

    I have two suggestions. Firstly, remind ALL police that they should be vigilant for traffic violations, whether one of the 16 traffic officers or not. If a regular PC out for a cruise spots someone speeding, running red lights, cutting people up on roundabouts, overtaking in a dangerous & reckless manner etc, they need to pull them over & ticket them. Otherwise, with the number of ‘non-traffic’ cop cars far outweighing the ‘traffic’ cop cars, all we the public see are cop cars witnessing but ignoring all manner of traffic violations. No wonder we have little faith in our police system.

    Secondly, we are in desperate need of extra measures for those who drive for a living. I’m talking bus drivers, dump truck drivers, school bus drivers, and yes even police patrol officers. I’m not sure if the answer is stricter fines, or a more thorough test, and I’m not saying drivers of private cars are blameless as there are clearly some horrific drivers out there, but it is these ‘professional’ drivers who worry me the most. Just this week alone, I have been cut up on a roundabout by a cop on his phone, almost run off the road by a school bus (with a full load of children) overtaking on a blind bend then forcing his way back in when a car came the other way, almost hit head on by a dump truck on my side of the road as I rounded a bend, and been cut up too many times to count by bus drivers. I wish this week was a one off, but occurrences like this are on a daily basis for so many of us. I do wonder, what are the requirements to get a job driving for a living, and why is it so many either cannot drive safely or just choose not to??

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    • Anonymous says:

      Just this week for me I’ve almost been killed by 3 big Mack trucks going at absurd speeds. No cops. Never any cops on the road.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Professional/Commercial drivers: dump trucks, school and tourist buses, taxis/mini buses, road tank wagons, delivery lorries, back hoes(!!), and police, should ALL be liable to treble the normal fines for driving infractions. Everything from: failing to indicate, sobriety, unsafe loads, unfit vehicles, speeding, jack-braking, lane-discipline. It’s what they do for a living, and in many cases, hold a special license for the privilege. If only we had matching regulations, and a passable Traffic Department…

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  12. Anonymous says:

    “The number of cars on the road, tourists unfamiliar with driving on the left, a legacy of poorly engineered roads, too many foreign licence holders, or even a lack of enforcement “…. LOL. Seriously? So it’s definitely not Caymanian and Jamaican drivers being comically bad?

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  13. Anonymous says:

    Better headline. POOR POLICING MAJOR ISSUE FOR DRIVERS

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    • Anonymous says:

      Actually the headline is correct but not intended by CNS. The police drive as poorly as everyone else!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Actually I think they did a stellar job acting as human traffic lights to ease the congestion at Christmas.

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  14. Anonymous says:

    I’d love to see some education campaigns being run. Camp out at a roundabout, pull over everyone who uses it incorrectly, and teach them how to do it properly. Make them get out of their and spend some time watching the traffic flow until they understand. Same thing with people camped out in the right hand lane on the bypass. Or park at the Shedden road or cricket ground lights and nab the people constantly running reds. It would not be hard to find them.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Why is it our roadsides are littered with billboards for politicians when an election is coming, but we can’t have signs explaining that bicycles should be travelling with the traffic (on the road) and that vehicles should stay left unless they are passing? Remind people of the rules of the road – there are plenty of visitors who aren’t familiar with our rules, even if just for them it makes sense.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    Nothing will fix the problem until people start having to pay lots of money for violations. Revamp the laws to provide for higher fines, and urge the judiciary to apply those fines.

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  16. Anonymous says:

    I followed a police car down the bypass from West Bay to the public beach roundabout yesterday: the car stayed in outside lane for the drive to the roundabout despite there being no vehicle on the inside land, and then didn’t bother to indicate on the roundabout, despite going around to WB Road.
    #LeadByExample

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    • Anonymous says:

      Some of the poorest drivers on the road happens to be the Police. They do not indicate.

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    • Anonymous says:

      When the driving examiner questioned a learner as to why they returned to the left hand lane after overtaking someone, saying ‘it might be the law in Cayman but it’s not observed’ you really have no hope.

      • Anonymous says:

        Or the vehicle inspector removing illegal tint before passing the vehicle and then handing the driver the business card of someone who could reapply it for him.

        Corruption and incompetence come in so many forms in Cayman they have become tangled with one another, and it is now almost impossible to tell the difference.

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      • Anonymous says:

        No wonder our roads get so clogged up with so many of these drivers. My Caymanian boyfriend argued with me over doing the same thing. Said if I driving East I stay right. I mean exactly what kinda foolishness is sufficient to pass a driving test here?

  17. JTB says:

    I read the headline and assumed they were talking about poor driving *by* the police

    Certainly, from what I’ve seen, they could do with some lessons on how to drive on dual carriageways

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  18. Anonymous says:

    RCIPS’ concerns are valid, and it’s evident on the streets every day. However, they should liaise closely with the Department of Motor Vehicle Licensing (DMV) – that’s the department responsible for testing drivers and issuing drivers licenses!

    DMV’s standards are very poor!!

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  19. Dan says:

    Speed don’t cause problems or kills…it is people head are mess up and can’t tell when to brake or give space between vehicles.

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  20. Anonymous says:

    The road I live on luckily had their garbage picked up in a timely manner the other day however the DEH garbage truck went down our road at a crazy speed after collecting. If that’s how they drive no wonder the trucks are always broken. Not to mention the fact that young children play everywhere on that street and they still decided to go down a 25mph road at about 50. Disgrace.

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  21. Raffaelle says:

    Easy solution cut the 40,000 work permits thus reducing the strain on our infrastructure. Inact actual standards as to who can obtain a Cayman drivers licenses to drive on our roads. Stop allowing those coming here to usurp the car licensing inspection system by taking care of their fellow countrymen a racket that has gone on for a very very long time.Which leads me to the traffic police problem too many foreign police taking care of their very own kind which in itself is corruption, seen too many blatant and obvious incidents now of favoritism and bias when it comes to enforcing the laws of these islands. Finally it is truly sad what has happen to our little islands 67,000 population 40,000 work permits 40,000 vehicles its is and indictment of our useless and sickening political leadership and our ruling power who keeps preaching environmental standards and ideals yet do absolutely nothing but enjoying and taking part in the polluting and environmental destruction of these beautiful islands. The U.K. is complicit in what is happening here.

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    • Anonymous says:

      So the problem is everyone else….. good one

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    • Anonymous says:

      Living under a rock won’t solve the problems. The modern world has foreigners in every country. Sending them away won’t help. We Caymankind are as bad at driving as those from elsewhere.

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  22. Anonymous says:

    Dont forget everbody driving around with bright lights on!

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  23. Mini Driver says:

    The solution is simple but there is no will to fix it, only ‘Lip service’. Obtaining a Driver’s License is a privilege, NOT a ‘Right’. A person must qualify to get one and likewise should also qualify to keep it. From what we know, most violations & accidents appear to involve residents, NOT tourists (statistics RCIPS?). This would mean that we are the problem. It STARTS with Education & that should be done in schools (Driver’s Ed). Passing a ‘refresher’ Test should also be mandatory to renew a DL. Lastly, we need to address the number of unlicensed, uninsured and unroadworthy vehicles on our roads, many of which proudly flaunt traffic violations for all to see, but are ignored by the RCIPS (covered license plates, dark tints, blinding colored lights).

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  24. Philip says:

    I find it amazing that the NRA can find the time/resources to install height restriction warning signs for bridges that have been in place for over 15 years but they can’t install signs telling/showing people which lanes to be in on approaches to roundabouts, even arrows on the road itself, has no one in the NRA management been to the UK?.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Why don’t they know to stay in the left lane unless passing… drives me mad… pun intended

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    • Anonymous says:

      I see lane signs and arrows every day. Not sure where you are looking.

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    • Anonymous says:

      They can’t even illuminate the multitude of crosswalks they’ve now peppered randomly around the island. The Lizard Run/Galleria to Fidelity Financial one is a pedestrian death trap. Someone’s going to die there.

  25. Anonymous says:

    Constables in Bahamas are getting fitted with body and vehicle dash cams to get them moving around and doing their jobs, putting the focus on effort and technique. We should join the 21st Century as well. Less than 4% of our police force (16/400+) think that traffic violations are something they need to worry about.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Great recommendation!! RCIPS please do this as soon as possible!

    • Anonymous says:

      That’ll be another $20M contract for CIG’s buddy security contractor who will sell RCIPS 10 year old obsolete equipment.

  26. Anonymous says:

    I was tailgated by a big green dump truck in boddentown. He was 10 feet behind me pushing and pushing.
    Stopped a patrol car and mentioned the green truck they actually saw racing away.
    All the said was uhuh..

    Why even bother.

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  27. Anonymous says:

    I am lucky if I see 2-3 people usuing indicators on my trip to work from BT. You are supposed to use your indicator even to indicate that you are changing from one lane to the other let alone turning a corner, but few people do. The other thing that really bugs me is that so many people seem to have no clue about dipping their headlights. It can be a real nuisance in the early morning when it is still pretty dark on the way to work. A quick flash of your headlights reminds the oncoming ‘high-beam’ driver who is blinding you, to dip his headlights – Here people think it’s a warning to watch out for hidden Police Cars on patrol. And I constantly have to adjust my mirror for those who are ‘blinding’ me from the rear… so irritating ! And brakes should be applied AFTER you INDICATE your intentions unless you are driving straight ahead…..Indicate/Brake/Make the Move not Brake/Make the Move/Indicate as an afterthought.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Ever seen the idiots who think they know how to use indicators entering roundabouts? They indicate left, “well that must be right my car goin left” but they go round and exit at the 2nd or 3rd exit. Reduce the number of idiots on the road, test EVERYBODY with a real world driving test. 50% might just squeeze by on the fist attempt. If you can only take the test once per year even after failing we should be back to smooth sailing on our roads. 50% of Traffic Police will be riding push bikes too😀

  28. Anonymous says:

    We have 400+ full time paid officers plus reservists and community deputies, yet only 16 allocated to traffic. A single USA traffic officer in any major city would pull over at least 1000 vehicles a month. We could dismiss the entire police force and nobody would notice.

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  29. Anonymous says:

    We all know the Police drive poorly. I would suggest they take the UK driving test and then at least they could learn to use their indicators

    The police drive like shit in Cayman.

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    • ThIs WrItInG Is VeRy IrRiTaTiNg says:

      Agreed. I thought that was what this article was going to be about when I read the title.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Even the Governor’s driver did not use his indicator recently

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    • Anonymous says:

      Could not agree more, 9:14 pm! I’ve driven behind several police vehicles over the past month and not one of them used an indicator at a roundabout, or a turn– NOT ONE OF THEM!!! If they want people to drive responsibly, don’t they think the laws of the road should apply with them and set a good example!?? It’s so hypocritical!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Agreed 9.14pm – I can tell you, when I was learning, the UK Driving test was so strict – you DO NOT say one word to the examiner – unless he speaks to you – or it’s instant failure ! The Practical driving test consists of you doing exactly WHAT he/she tells you WHEN he/she tells you, without hesitation or error. They allowed little room for error and % of failures 1st time, was quite high. My own brother who always came first in everything and was an excellent driver, failed first time and had to take it again. Just out of curiosity, does anyone have any knowledge if the Driving Schools have to have any specific qualifications in order to conduct business – not suggesting they don’t – just wondering ?

  30. Elvis says:

    Try running on the road lmao. Running across that roundabout by lantern point is like death wish 4
    Cell phone merry go round. I’m going to sit there one day with my video camera and record them all then sent the tape to the police and watch nothing happen still

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  31. Anonymous says:

    I’ve been driving here now 20 years so maybe I’m just used to the poor driving. Haven’t yet had an accident (knock on wood) which I consider to be a miracle. You need to be attentive here otherwise so.eone will do unexpected stuff. Always watch the cars in front of you and the cars in front of them.

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  32. Anonymous says:

    the horse has bolted….there are shockingly poor drivers, terrible condition cars, awful roads (old and near brand new), haphazard rule implementation, etc…the only thing that ever slows any of us down is when we see a police car moving ahead on the road, holding the speed limits…the solution is simple, hire a load of people to drive RCIPS cars 24/7 around the Island, it will slow more of us down than anything else and make more of us obey the rules..it will not fix everything, but it will fix far more than anything else…

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  33. Anonymous says:

    What a Joke. Handing out license to poor drivers is the core issue along with NO drivers education in place.

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  34. Anonymous says:

    This story reminds of a public statement by one of his predecessors at the traffic unit about drink driving saying that RCIPS would relentlessly pursue offenders. Only two slight problems – that officer was a well-known drunk and had buried evidence that one of his sons had been caught DUI. It’s joke policing.

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  35. Anonymous says:

    Its the wild wild west out there on the roads of Cayman. No law enforcement has turned it into anything goes. The only way to fix it is to up the enforcement and make people drive safer. Hold Cayman’s bad drivers accountable. Are you saying that it is not your job? Really? We all know that the police here are not up to doing the job. That’s not going to change in our lifetime.

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  36. Anonymous says:

    Start with educating your own officers sir.

    1. Teach them not to park in handicap spots.

    2. Teach them not to hang our flag upsided down.

    Thanks.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Teach them to use indicators
      Teach them which lane too use n a roundabout
      Teach them drive left & overtake right
      Teach them to give way to traffic on the roundabout before enter g the roundabout
      If you are not using your blue lights/siren then the speed limit applies to you too

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      • Anonymous says:

        How about every officer must pass the UK driving test in the UK prior to them getting a cayman drivers licence or if they already have a cayman drivers licence they must obtain a UK licence prior to working as a police officer and operating a govt issued police vehicle.

        One this will reduce officers from a certain country being hired. These individuals provide fake police reports from their country of origin and are criminals themselves. These individuals then have taken over and corrupted the police force. If I go as basic as a police write up. These police officers are practically illiterate. The spelling was not just so poor. It was atrocious. How can one spelling wondering as onedering and really try to correct someone else on anything. This was not a texting auto correct issue. This misspelling/illiteracy was from a hand written police report. I can tell you that I lost all respect for him/them. I just assumed the way of speaking was a dialect and not a true representation of illiteracy.

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  37. Anonymous says:

    Maybe a good start would be for him to educate his own officers who never use their indicators and that is a major problem in the roundabouts.

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  38. Say it like it is says:

    Please have a squad car trail the Trolley Roger for a day and note the dozens of cars held up behind it. It travels at less than a walking pace and should be issued with a ticket for obstruction on each trip until it’s off the road.
    Another issue, hundreds of motorists run through red lights every day, but has anyone ever been ticketed for this infraction?.

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    • Pirate Pete says:

      ‘Trolly Roger’ is neither roadworthy nor safe and was not designed for use on public roads. It was designed for moving people around theme parks like Disney. It is unsafe on Public roads and a hazard to the passengers, ‘tug’ driver and ALL road users and in the interest of Public safety should NEVER have been allowed to operate on public roads. It drives up & down S Church St ‘bobbing & weaving’ uncontrollably & obstructing traffic on a major road which also happens to be the road where both Fuel depots are located and Fuel trucks use it all day. It is time for them to go!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Oh please! The Trolley Roger is best enjoyed when riding it and not following it!

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    • ThIs WrItInG Is VeRy IrRiTaTiNg says:

      I was driving on Godfrey Nixon heading toward Eastern Avenue on my way to work this morning. I was in the left lane to turn left when the light turned yellow. When I stopped the person behind me started honking his horn. I put my vehicle in park and got out to point at the sign that clearly says “Left Turn Permitted After Full Stop”. If people can’t obey the rules of the road when there is a sign telling them exactly what to do what hope do we have that they are even aware of the basic rules of the road?

      I pass through that intersection several times a day and nearly every time there is at least one vehicle running the red light. I’ve never seen anyone pulled over for it even when there is a police car in sight.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Mate. Try following it like we do from the East in the morning rush hour. Helps to make worse the already horrific traffic queued all the way back to BT. Hundreds of us stuck behind him all the way to Spotts. He doesn’t even pull over to ease the congestion now and then. Sways all over the road, would never be legal anywhere else. Having said that, same goes for many other vehicles on the road. Completely unroadworthy.

  39. T says:

    Enforcement is the best way to educate drivers at this point. Enforcement should be a responsibility of all police officers not just the dedicated 16 officers in the traffic division.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I think you’ll find regular front line police do chip in. Between dealing with domestics, quarrelling neighbors and car crashes, they try to give out tickets where needed.

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    • Driving standards says:

      It is way too easy to get a driver’s license in the cayman islands

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  40. Anonymous says:

    One would have to assume, from his comments that there is no basic police schooling. Inspector Jones needs to crack the “Criminology” paper weight at the far corner of his desk. Basic traffic enforcement is the most critical and important visible deterrent in the community. Regularized enforcement cuts all crime, including opportunistic muggings, burglaries, arson, sexual predation, drug crime, and weapons in cars. Having officers deployed, reduces field response time to other emergencies from quarter hours, down to minutes or seconds (as it should be), especially in the important Hotel Tourism zone. 16 seems like peak purple ribbon complement, rather than what they typically run in their 11 month long off-season. I’ve called and been told there was only one officer on duty covering two of the most populous districts, and he couldn’t go anywhere because he was answering the switchboard! We’ve been asking for a proper year-round department for over 30 years, when are the RCIPS going to listen?! The whole executive suite at RCIPS needs a shakeup.

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  41. Crab Claw says:

    Those cellphone lady drivers seem to not be getting tickets thou you can spot them a mile out the huge gap between the cars in traffic, and as for that one nationality that don’t know what and indicator is our how to use a roundabouts middle lane they only use the outside lane the whole way around, bet those aren’t getting no tickets.

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  42. Anonymous says:

    I agree with everything everyone raised about the fact the police should be setting the example with their own driving, eg failure to indicate, roundabouts, turns etc. However, a total of 16 active officers, so in a 24 hour period how many are actually on duty? That does not seem like enough when you consider annual leave, time in court, sick, etc, surely we should be demanding more officers to issue tickets until we all learn that you will get caught so don’t risk it which should equal a safer road and more efficient traffic flow for everyone.

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  43. Stephen W says:

    Humans have a natural tendency to push boundaries and figure out what they can get away with in order to suit their own needs. Hence why police and enforcement (together) are needed across the board.

    Saying the it’s the driver’s fault, when the problem is clearly the fact that our driving education in place is poor, tourists aren’t properly informed on road rules, vehicular inspections are as effective as an entry gate with no surrounding walls/fence, there either no sightings of police on the road for weeks, or all of them are running up and for a couple of hours then back to nothing, public transport is a joke….the list goes on.

    Also “he denied that his officers were not doing all they could to sanction those breaking the traffic laws.” added to the later statement in the article “With a complement of 16 active officers”…….. am I reading this right? Are there really only 16 traffic officers on an island of almost 62k people (soon to be 100k apparently)?

    My head is spinning.

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  44. Anonymous says:

    “We are also focusing heavily on education and awareness in an effort to get drivers to take responsibility for their own poor driving.”

    Please could you start by educating the police force itself on the use of indicators? If officers are expected to uphold the law they should at least obey it.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Everyone is aware. We are saturated with awareness. ..You’re aware, so what? Awareness without action is pretty meaningless. And it needs to be meaningful action at that. Any action will not do.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I was thinking the same thing after following 2 police cars (who weren’t responding to an incident) go through 2 roundabouts and changing lanes on a dual carriage way and neither used there indicators at all.

      16
  45. Anonymous says:

    Bullshit Jones. A school leavers could simply walk around car parks in George Town and issue tickets based on tint alone. Your enforcement efforts were nonexistent for a decade. Now they are better, but nowhere near “we are doing all we can.”

    Many of the offenses could be dealt with automatically and electronically, but you insist on doing everything as inefficiently as possible.

    Our driving is so bad because you have allowed it to be so bad. I am yet to even see a police car use it’s indicators properly.

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  46. Anonymous says:

    Two areas Insp. Jones ducked.

    The first is the number of complete wrecks on the road. Not just cars but vans, buses and trucks. The safety inspections are a joke.

    The second is the number of people driving here who have clearly got their licences by the back door route.

    If RCIPS want to improve road safety here’s a thought – tackle corruption at DVDL and take all the people with un-roadworthy vehicles and dodgy driving licences off the road.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Perhaps we should not allow people to transfer their overseas license, once they arrive in Cayman. Especially from those third world countries that have lawless societies.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Good in theory but you are assuming the Cayman test is sufficient to produce a decent driver. The test here is at best, basic. You pass, then learn how others drive, which is usually badly, and have no benchmark to measure yourself against.

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      • Anonymous says:

        But this is a third world country with a lawless society. Most of the local drivers can’t read a drivers test much less pass one.

    • Anonymous says:

      3. It’s not just tourists, many residents don’t know how to drive on the left, keep left on dual carriageways, use indicators or use roundabouts properly.
      4. Too many left hand drive vehicles on the road which have not had their headlights realigned for driving on the left, blinding other legit road users.
      5. Driving tests here are so bad that they don’t help at all in any real and meaningful way.

      All they do is easy tickets. That’s not addressing the real issues.

  47. Brian of Nazareth says:

    1300 tickets/prosecutions in one month is a large number, yet the message is clearly not getting through to the driving public given the constant justified moaning re the horrific driving standards here. The RCIPS can only do so much and Inspector Jones is probably pulling his hair out as the situation only seems to be getting worse. There needs to be a coordinated strategic approach, perhaps with a Minister appointed by the Governor to direct activity in ensuring that the relevant agencies: NRA, RCIPS, driver and vehicle licensing and testing, courts are liaising and singing from the same hymn sheet. Additionally, the penalties for driving offences need updating, a $500 fine for mobile phone use/speeding I believe would soon change behaviours.

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    • Anonymous says:

      But 1300 is not a large or even adequate number – roughly equivalent to barely showing up. Keep in mind this was the throughput of 16 “dedicated” career officers. That’s 81 tickets each, or averaging just 2.6 tickets per day, per officer, for 8 hr shifts where they were being paid specifically to be observant – and to write up traffic infractions, during an annual Purple Ribbon Blitz. Since there isn’t any other traffic effort, that’s kind of it for the next 6 months. It will cost us about $20,000 per ticket. If you are quantifying in realistic terms, it’s a pathetic effort! “The RCIPS can only do so much” – WRONG. They might be asked to try.

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  48. Anonymous says:

    He is so astute!

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  49. Anonymous says:

    yawn…more waffle for the police farce.
    free money making solution:
    treble all fines. 3 fines in a year and you get a 18 month ban.

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    • Anonymous says:

      There would be no buses or taxis on the road within a month!

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      • Anonymous says:

        Ain’t that the truth. They are the worse of the lot next to a certain group who’s island is closest to us. No indicators, manners, caution.

    • Anonymous says:

      People still drive here whilst banned. If fines trebled more people wouldn’t pay, courts would be clogged up even more.

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  50. Anonymous says:

    In other news I’m yet to see a police car properly use an indicator in a roundabout.

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    • Anonymous says:

      That is absolutely right. Countless times I’ve seen police cars turning right off the LP Highway on the Kings roundabout using the left hand lane and not even bothering to indicate. The sad truth is that some police drivers, ill-trained, don’t even realise that what they’re doing is dangerous and illegal.

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    • Anonymous says:

      very true and i have the dash cam footage…..inspector byrne, do you want the footage????

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