Speeding fuels 2019 traffic trouble
(CNS): The police issued 7,850 traffic tickets for various offences during 2019, compared to 7,525 the year before. But 40% of those tickets were for speeding, which continues to fuel Cayman’s traffic trouble. Officers doled out 3,094 tickets to drivers over the limit, a near 46% increase on 2018, and 88 of them were for speeds in excess of 70mph. This included two cases of 100mph on the Easterly Tibbetts Highway, a speeding hot spot despite a speed limit of just 40mph.
The speeding problem was highlighted in the annual road traffic statistics released by police this week alongside the crime figures. And given the amount of speeders on the roads it was no surprise that the rate of crashes also increased.
In 2019 there were 2806 collisions more than 16% higher that in 2018. Eight of the smashes were fatal with nine people losing their lives on the road last year. Another 21 people were seriously injured and 438 slightly injured as a result of motor vehicle accidents.
The police also said that the top 5 locations where speeding was recorded last year were Esterley Tibbetts Highway, South Sound Road, Shamrock Road, Linford Pierson Highway and West Bay Road. these locations also match the top spots for road smashes.
Driving Under the Influence however also plays a part in collisions. In 2019 the summons issued for driving under the influence of alcohol or DUI fell by more than 15%. But the level of intoxication of some drivers was still very high in almost a quarter of cases drivers were at least double the legal limit and 5 DUIs where the reading was 3 times over the limit.
Meanwhile as we approach the half way point for 2020 little has changed.Police Commissioner Derek Byrne said there had been a sharp rise in the number of speeding motorists on Cayman roads in recent weeks. “Considering that the maximum speed limit across the islands is 50mph – which is not a target speed, it is very concerning how often our officers are detecting cars traveling at exceptionally high speeds,” he said.
Since 15 May the Traffic & Roads Policing Unit has issued over 600 speeding tickets with the top speed recorded at 102 mph. So far this year there have been three crashes that have killed three people.
In the wake of the release of the annual statistics Rotary Central Cayman Islands is launching an anti-speeding campaign which will highlight the human element of deaths and serious injuries caused by road accidents.Colin Fawkes, President of Rotary Central Cayman Islands said the recent surge in speeding and reckless behaviour on Cayman’s roads has alarmed the service club and police.
“During this period of lockdown and curfews, some drivers have used the lack of traffic to drive at significantly excessive speeds,” he said. “People need to remember if they are driving dangerously they are putting lives at risk – speed limits apply no matter how busy or quiet the roads are.
“Roads will become progressively busier in the coming weeks and the reality is that if people continue to drive at unsafe speeds above the limits, or faster than is sensible for the conditions, people will continue to be hurt or killed as a result,” President Fawkes said.
This is the third road safety campaign run by Rotary Central but this one aims to confront drivers with the realities of speeding.
“Speeding is the leading factor in death and injuries on our roads,” said past president Susie Bodden. “However, most drivers often resist the idea that the way they drive puts themselves and others in danger. There is a tendency for complacency, over confidence and lower perception of risk when driving on familiar roads, people believe a crash won’t happen to them.
“Ultimately, there is no excuse for speeding because it can have tragic and life-changing consequences. The campaign will aim to confront drivers by getting them to see the outcome of their actions,” she added.
See the full Crime and Traffic Statistical Report in the CNS Library
Traffic stats begin on page 30.
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Cayman must adopt the 12 penalty points system and ban those from driving who exceed the maximum 12 points. Start endorsing licenses and get these idiots off the roads.
And yes, construction workers are some of the worst offenders, Rum Point Drive is a race track for workers and dump trucks.
And what’s with the speeding on residential roads? Some kid is going to get killed by these guys that can’t wait to get down harbour drive as fast as possible.
I’m a cyclist and normally go out early to avoid the traffic so it’s been great with less traffic on the roads, but obviously this is changing. I have noticed greater courtesy towards cyclists from most drivers so hope this continues. As the traffic has been increasing the idiots are however definitely back, It does amaze me to see how some drivers weave in and out of the traffic to save themselves a couple of seconds, while others continue to speed, especially those with the changed out exhausts that want to make their tin pot sound louder so accelerate at every opportunity, while others follow vehicles in front right on their tail like some game of chicken. Lastly just a plea to the dump truck drivers, when approaching a cyclist from behind there is no need to blast your horn, we aren’t deaf and can hear you coming !!
We need proper cordoned-off bike/scooter lane corridors (using impression rumble strips, rubber humps, and bollards), and bright roadside sharrow stencils where there was no original design provision made for cyclists. We need to condition all road-users to expect cyclists and give them the necessary 3 foot safety buffer prescribed in Traffic Law. The entire cycling community needs to organize to confront the NRA and PLA Minister on their deviation from the fully budgeted and paid NRA Plan 2015-2020. This needs to happen before more cyclists get injured or die needlessly. We also need the NRA to provision to buy and maintain a street/shoulder sweeper machine and run it up and down our main thoroughfares every calendar quarter as part of their normal road-cleaning operations. It would be helpful if the RCIPS had a consistent ticketing traffic unit for dangerous overloaded quarry trucks that continuously litter and degrade the road surface with sand, marbles, and boulders, especially in roundabouts. There are thousands of furloughed CIG employees that could be mobilized to address the undone work, and now is the time to do it.
Slow down. Don’t speed. Give yourself extra time to get from A to B.
Problem solved.
Well, it appears that almost all of the speedsters and maniac drivers must work in the construction industry.
The roads were peaceful and drivers generally courteous, up until the construction industry started back up recently.
The difference in the quality of driving was almost palpable.
Definitely not true on South Sound Road. Idiots were speeding there the whole time. Several were food delivery guys, but others were just plain old a$$holes.
Speeding is an issue here but it’s not the biggest issue. Even drunk driving isn’t the biggest issue. The biggest issue is the number of drivers that are simply not road-safe.
At the Smiths Rd lights and the Shedden Rd lights on almost every cycle cars run the reds. At speed and sometimes 3 or 4 seconds after it’s changed to red. I’ve seen dump trucks charge through at 30mph on red.
Every roundabout all day every day there are people going past exits in the outside lane. Outside lane= first two exists only AND you have to give way to other cars coming around even if they’re not I’m your lane.
And don’t get me started on the people meandering up and down the Easterly Tibbets Highway In lala land camped in the right hand lane. How can you be so stupid to have not noticed in your whole life that you are supposed to keep left? Do you not wonder why all the drivers queued up behind you look so p*ssed off? Or do you think that turning right in 3 miles means you can block the lane.
Ok, rant over. But I would like to see and education campaign. Pull those people over and make them spend 5 or 10 minutes of their precious time going over the road rules with a police officer.
Keeping left on the dual carriageway is not taught here
Muppets
“Keep Left” is codified into the Traffic Law (2011), and part of the basic learner driver test §68 (b):
“…keep to the left half of the road except when traveling in a oneway
street or overtaking, or when otherwise directed by a traffic sign or signal, a police signal or signal by other authorized person…”
The number of unsafe group 3 and 4 drivers should be worrisome to all regular road users and prompt new licensing reviews for those privileged categories. A peeve for many are those that pull out on roundabouts whenever they feel they’ve waited long enough, or after sizing up the nationality of the inbound right of way traffic. We often wonder if they have passed a vision test, and/or hold a genuine valid category license. Who’s going to check?
Would love to see those statistics broken down into nationalities as well. Then we can find out who the truly crap drivers are.
Why?
To further buttress the existing targeted xenophobia.
Exactly. What are not reports automatically made to immigration each and every time anyone is ticketed or charged with anything?
You can’t Caymanian men in their 20s to Immigration.
“The police also said that the top 5 locations where speeding was recorded last year were Esterley Tibbetts Highway, South Sound Road, Shamrock Road, Linford Pierson Highway and West Bay Road. these locations also match the top spots for road smashes.”
But of course the smash numbers & speeding on ETH, SSR, Shamrock Rd (Spotts Straight) & LPH would be high, more traffic! These are major roads for travel. Out of the top 5 as listed, only West Bay Road has seen reduced traffic since ETH opened up as a bypass. So it would, if can be broken down, show less smashes & speeders.
That 10% factor comes into play once again:
The overall numbers (7,850) are an average of approximately 10% expectation for the amount of road going vehicles, nearly 80,000 according to our government;
“Citing statistics he said were gathered from various government departments and shared in Finance Committee, Harris said there were currently 42,459 registered, roadworthy vehicles and 37,406 unlicensed vehicles in the Cayman Islands, meaning there are nearly 80,000 vehicles for Cayman’s estimated population of around 63,000 people.”~Cayman Compass, April 14th, 2019.
More CURFEW times = More SPEEDING.
Just use your common sense.
Speeding has nothing to do with traffic!
It’s the people how do less than the speed limit and obstructing the flow of traffic. These people need to ticketed for obstructing traffic or taken off the road from 5am to 10am and from 3PM to 7PM.
The speed limit should be increased by 5mph during the times I mention above.
Sometimes I swear goverment is paying people to causes traffic congestion.
One more thing before I go.. stop selling drivers from the back door. I don’t know who worst dem or WORC Dept.
Appalling driving is normal here. They look at you crazy when you follow the rules. Had a guy in a car with a big L on the front tailgating me. We entered the roundabout from red bay going toward town. He went through the cones to try and pass me instead of merging like you’re meant to do. He didn’t beat me and then tailgated again. He was on the phone so I decided I’d do a quick break tap. I scared the crap out of him and he looked at me crazy. XXXX
You’re more likely to die from bad drivers than covid here. Fact.
Gotta love that brake tap.
agree – increase the speed limit on dual carriage way… and educate the idiots that the right lane is for passing, not for bumbling along at 25mph driving parallel to another car doing 25 mph
The right lane is not for passing. Show in the traffic laws or road code where it says this. This isn’t the U.S.A. I’ve actually asked a police traffic officer about this and they confirmed it.
There are no true highways here in Cayman where highway rules are in effect (stay out of fast lane except for passing) like in North America.
There’s no stretch of multi-lane road long enough in Cayman where there is a need for a true passing lane. Slow your bunky down and quit being in such a hurry to get everywhere.
Thank you exactly the idea of the roads in Cayman is not that right lane is for passing it’s for making sure you are in the correct lane to enter and exit the roundabout in the correct lane. Even if you are a slow driver you have a right to be in the right lane.
No no no no no. Getting in the correct lane is what your steering wheel and indicator are for. If you sit in that lane blocking traffic because you are turning in 2 miles you are an ignoramus.
Diagram on page 27 of the Road code seems to indicate that the right lane is for passing
Ok, let’s get this straight. Sure, the right lane is for passing but the right lane SOLELY for passing.
If you are in the right lane with 2 (or more) lanes going the same direction (ie: Shamrock road heading towards GT from Savannah), there is no expectation to stay left unless overtaking because there are roads one may need to turn right onto (ie: Poindexter, Spotts-Newlands etc.) and roundabouts that we all need to navigate and be in the proper lane for.
Really the only stretch you could argue is long enough to stay left may be Esterly Tibbetts bypass but even then there are roundabouts along the way that people may need to be in the right lane for.
Cayman doesn’t have long stretches of interstate like Florida where this should ever be an issue. If someone is going 40 on (again, for example) Shamrock road and you want to get past them..that means you’ll be speeding if you overtake them. And even so, you’ll gain MAYBE 10 seconds of time before you have to hit the brakes for the inevitable upcoming roundabout.
Just slow it down and quit being in such a bloody hurry!
I highly doubt this is true but even if it is, blocking traffic and causing tailbacks because technically the road rules don’t require you to be a considerate driver is appalling and makes you sound like a pedantic ass.
Please CNS may I have have an extra 50000 thumbs-down votes to use on this comment?
The law said we drive on left side of the road NOT right side of the road!
Something is wrong then because I could have sworn I once heard a radio host say specifically that the right was was for passing and he’s tired of slow drivers hogging it. And he is caymanian. Y’all need to sort out the road code so that we are all on the same page with the same understanding.
Oh well if a radio host said it…
It is in the Traffic Law. 68 b
See section 68 (b).
You couldn’t be more wrong. Safe overtaking (after years of headline fatal accidents) is why we spent millions of dollars to pave a second lane. It’s worrying that we have about 50 miles of double lane roads in Cayman that many still don’t think exist, or know how to use properly.
The reality here is that the standards of driving accepted here are terrible.
Speeding is one part of an ignorance to reasonable driving.
Crap heaps on the road that have been ‘inspected’ for a fee. Traffic law that is not fit for purpose, you have a tyre with no tread? Ticket? Nah, file created to be submitted to the courts.
People not using blinkers. Small issue right? It causes accidents. It frustrates others. Lack of signals creates unnecessary waits at junctions and roundabouts, which then creates extra traffic that is crawling along. Use your fn indicators, please!!!
Cell phone use still everywhere.
As for speeding. We have crap heaps with shot brakes and tires, drivers who have no real education about things like seatbelts and thinking distances, people driving distracted, and then you sprinkle in speeding, you’ve got the cherry on top of the crap cake. This then leads to an accident, which slows everyone down and uses up valuable resources from police and medical crews.
Idiots, please slow down. Mathematics may not be something you paid attention to at school, but overtaking down South Sound in traffic will probably gain you less than 30 seconds of time before you arrive at your stupid destination.
Well done to the RCIPS. Aggressive, impatient, inconsiderate and dangerous drivers are all too common in Cayman. People are always in such a hurry.
Glad some of these fools are being hit in the pocketbook or being taken to court to answer for their dangerous decisions. I hope to see more enforcement out there. Specifically with the wheelie dirt bikers.
The wheelie bikers seem to be quieter since that idiot got taken down by the police chase.
The one in which the ombudsman criticized several elements of the chase. The public feeling here though seems at odds with their findings. Am I wrong???
I have a street legal dirt bike.. must burn you to see me on the road. I’ll pop a wheelie just for you <3
Not really. The only thing that will burn is your back when you fall off due to a disagreement with a) gravity and b) adulthood
I’ve no issue with street legal dirt bikes. They’re actually great commuter vehicles, it’s just a shame the average rider has fewer brain cells than the motorbike has CCs.
How many of the “road smashes” noted actually occurred on roundabouts?
The reason the ETH is a hot spot is because 40mph is a ridiculous restriction on a road that would be 70mph in the UK. Even allowing for the staggeringly poor driving standards in Cayman that should be reconsidered.
You’ve kind of answered the riddle right there. It should be be a 50 or 60 zone, but, if it was 60, idiots would drive 80 as a matter of routine.
If it was 60, you’d still have idiots cruising at 35 in the right lane. Then with Tokyo Drifters shooting by at 100, you’d have a crash on your hands.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
And that’s why it needs to be more difficult for idiots to get a drivers license.
Especially when the spelling of the word doesn’t match the jurisdiction where it’s being used.
Oh shut your pedantic trap.
Tokyo Drifters actually know how to drive, know the limitations of their vehicle, have some of the world’s best roads to drive on, don’t put non-street legal mods on their vehicles and have to deal with some of the strictest fines and disqualifications if they crash on a public road. What we have here is the opposite or more like the Whacky Races.
The term Tokyo Drifters is used in jest. It’s an example of sarcasm. A 1995 Toyota Corolla with badly fitted LED lights, wheels that project sideways past the bodywork and ‘sports style’ seat covers would be typical for here, or any combination of Honda that looks like it’s driven through Automotive Art whilst coated in superglue.
I was referring to the Touge (street racers) in Japan so people here might understand the origins and that this dangerous sport in many times more dangerous in Cayman. Mainly due to the design and poor surface of our roads. There are other factors at play such as licensing garages let illegal and unroadworthy modifications slide.
I understood without the explanation, but cheers, young grasshopper.
More likely 40mph as there are neighborhood road entries and pedestrian spaces close to the road. E.g., snug harbor is largely a blind entrance to ETH.
That part of ETH should definitely remain 40mph, but there’s also the beginning of the highway to the Camana Bay roundabout, and the roundabout by Yacht Drive up to Batabano. Those parts of the highway should be well over 40mph.
If there was a dedicated/segregated space for pedestrians and cyclists that isn’t 3 feet away from traffic maybe I’d agree. But not sure what 30 more mph does on a 1 mile stretch of road….particularly when you have to slow down to get through a roundabout anyway.
I’m not the original commenter btw, and when I said “well over” I meant more like 55-60mph as opposed to 40. It’s just kind of frustrating that the law requires us to do only 40mph on such a straightforward road with little to no side roads that cars can come out of. Even the cops go at least 50mph on ETH. I’m not saying that just because they do that means it’s right, but it really is safe to do so. At least, a lot safer than going the legal speed limit on the east side of the island.
Agreed, and that’s not where the cops hide in the bushes. They hide on the longest straightest piece of road in Cayman in order to raise revenue. If they actually cared about safety they’d patrol those sort of areas – the places were they may save some lives.
Numbnuts, the places you often see them operating are places with a good line of sight, but also somewhere safe to pull vehicles over. They ain’t gonna be pulling people over by a bend of any description.
Agreed. There’s no reason that residential areas in East End and North Side should have 50mph speed limits, but a highway with two lanes in each direction with barely any side roads should be only 40mph. ETH should have a speed limit of at least 55mph.
Most importantly, 50 will never be 75 or 100, and the speed limit is not static so drivers need to be attentive to the changing limits. That’s the problem in every district.
Does it look like we are the UK? No. ETH has entries for businesses and apartments, so 40mph is more than reasonable. Plus, the Cayman Islands is significantly smaller than the UK or America…no need for those higher speeds. People already can’t manage with the ones we currently have. No matter the speed people always act as if they are auditioning for the Fast and Furious saga.
Though to be fair, a fair few end up like Paul Walker.
Go ahead and try one of the roundabouts at 40mph, I’ll watch. Speeding and breaking speeding and breaking is not efficient and leads to more differential in closing speeds (piling at roundabouts), wear and tear, and traffic accidents.