Brunch focus nets just nine drunk drivers

| 30/06/2021 | 84 Comments

(CNS): Operation Quaker, the RCIPS’ latest road safety and enforcement campaign, focused on drivers leaving Sunday brunch events this weekend, which resulted in just nine people arrested for driving under the influence. Officers at road blocks and on patrol also issued 54 speeding tickets and dealt with 27 other traffic offenses, such as using a vehicle with expired registration. The traffic unit is also warning drivers that they will be out in force this coming holiday weekend as the crackdown on rogue road users continues.

“Sunday brunches are quickly becoming our busiest time of the weekend period, as many drivers take the risk of driving under the influence when returning from brunch activities,” said Inspector Dwayne Jones. “We strongly urge people to make a plan to get home after attending such events so that you don’t risk your life or the life of others on the roads.”

With the constitution holiday weekend approaching, the traffic unit will continue Operation Quaker efforts with an increased presence on the roads, he said. Several major sporting events are scheduled for the weekend, including the UEFA Euro Cup matches, and there will be increased police presence on the roads at these times, too.

“Again, our focus will be on DUI and speeding as these driving behaviours continue to be the biggest risk on our roads when it comes to serious crashes and fatalities. Thankfully, since commencing Operation Quaker we have not seen a fatality, and we ask drivers to drive safely so that we can keep it that way,” said Chief Inspector Malcolm Kay.

The police also thanked the National Roads Authority for their continued efforts in assisting Operation Quaker efforts with providing road safety messages in various key locations on their digital billboards, across the Cayman Islands.


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Category: Crime, Police

Comments (84)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    You do realise the right lane is the overtaking lane… IN THE UK?! Please refer to the UK highway code:

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/motorways-253-to-273

    It’s the OPPOSITE in the US because they drive on the opposite side of the road.

    Moron.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Two things that make me want to punch others in the face.

    1. Indicate your turns…my word, if you can’t indicate after an actual sign that is reminding you to do something you should already be doing, please stop driving. You are causing unnecessary delays.

    2. The little liquor 4 less/reflections or whatever it is called by Foster’s airport, the cars that park on double yellow lines, please impound and crush. There’s no excuse. Parking is plentiful, and parking on double yellow literally blocks cars driving correctly.

  3. Drive slow if you wish. Just do it in the left lane please. says:

    @Alric Lindsay – can you please make your first action as new Chairman of the NRA to PLEASE put signs along both the Esterley Tibbetts and Linford Pierson highways that read “Slow Traffic Keep Left”?

    Repeat after me fellow motorists “The right lane is for overtaking.”
    “The right lane is for overtaking.”
    “The right lane is for overtaking.”
    “The right lane is for overtaking.”
    “The right lane is for overtaking.”
    “The right lane is for overtaking.”

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes
      Yes
      Yes
      Yes
      Yes
      Yes

      A million times.

      If possible, include a simple diagram so taxi drivers understand too.

    • Say it like it is. says:

      3.36pm”The right lane is for speeding”, “the right lane is for speeding” that is the actuality.

      • Anonymous says:

        I’d rather they are speeding than traveling 23mph in the right lane.

        Speeding, that’s on them, and can be dealt with. Poor lane discipline causes frustration, tailbacks, dangerous undertaking, as well as showing the obvious defects in the driver licensing system.

        • Plain talk says:

          Hey right Kane left lane what’s the hurry Breda, where you goinng that is so far away. Take ya time leave early arrive on time snd you and others will remain alive.

    • Anonymous says:

      The right lane is not for overtaking. This isn’t the USA.

      It’s not the law. Period.

  4. Anonymous says:

    And still no roadblocks or tickets issued from along South Church Street to South Sound.
    Govt could rake in a bootload of money each week.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Until taxis don’t cost a mortgage dui wont stop. The other problem is just the speeders. every morning I’m driving to work and see zero cops but I am passed at 90 miles an hour on an Esterley Tibbetts Highway by 10 silver Honda’s.

    • Big Up!!! says:

      Stop giving these idiots an excuse to drink and drive. Maybe they shouldn’t be drinking at all if they cannot control their alcohol intake. Maybe if they need to get pissed at 11 a.m., they have a problem. Maybe, as supposedly responsible adults that they are, they should choose a designated driver who will drive them home safely…or hire a cab. If you can afford the brunch and alcohol, you can afford a cab.

  6. Anonymous says:

    This is profiling, a violation of our most basic human rights.

  7. Anonymous says:

    free money making solution:
    along with automatic ban,,,dui should have a minimum $10k fine.

  8. Anonymous says:

    No affordable or available taxi or shared ride service means people will always drink drive on this island. How about taking a fleet of mid-size cars, painting them aqua blue and calling it ‘Kayman Kabs’. Then have them all metered for a fair per kilometre rate and watch how the number of people driving drunk will drop dramatically. Seems to work in so many other places in the world.

    Imagine, no more middle-aged Jamaican ladies with serious attitude pulling up in a dirty, busted up van charging whatever crazy price they want.

    This is not the time to be ‘uniquely Cayman’.

    • Not perfect says:

      Price per mile, not kilometer, please.

      • Anonymous says:

        What???? You could do price per millimeter or inch, it’d be the same if adjusted accordingly.

        If you can’t get your head around a basic scale change like KM or Miles, just give up.

    • Big Poppa says:

      Maybe you shouldn’t be drinking if you think you have to drink and drive.

  9. Anonymous says:

    I think a review/campaign needs to be done on the taxi rates in cayman. Instead of operation Quaker how about operation let’s encourage taxi use. Should we privatize the transportation system ? It’s obvious what we have been doing for the past 10 years hasn’t been working, maybe thinking outside the box is the way to go now

  10. Anonymous says:

    To me the worst offence I see every day is people not using the inner most available lane on the highway. USE THE LEFT LANE PEOPLE (INSIDE LANE). It is against the highway code (we follow the british system) to drive on the outside right hand lane slowly when the inside lane is available and it causes massive congestion. Drives me mad!

    • Drastic times require drastic measures says:

      Your advice is sound but most drivers can’t even tell left from right, not to mention which way to signal before entering a roundabout. Fundamentals of good driving and consideration for other road users is virtually non existent. Make everyone take a multiple choice road rules test when they renew their licence and publish results on the DVDL website. Score a 75% or above and you get to renew otherwise you take a proper practical and written exam. But of course nothing like this will happen or more than 50% of current drivers will be taking exams again.

    • Anonymous says:

      Hear, hear. Drive left, overtake right.
      It annoys me too!!

  11. Anonymous says:

    I know it’s ridiculous considering how expensive it is to eat and drink here BUT many don’t want to pay the taxi fees so what about if government socialized public transport, salaries the taxi drivers and provided free transportation? Along with that, create zero tolerance drunk driving tests that if failed you are in prison for a month and license gone for a year and insurance tripled

    Or something like that. Drink driving is a scourge in society and should be eradicated

    • Anonymous says:

      Good luck trying to hail a governent salaried taxi driver! Our failed system needs less government interference not more! Simply allow Uber, job done.

      • Paul h says:

        I wholeheartdly agree with the police campaign against DUI drivers.
        Now, driving to work at 5.30am every monrning I see cars without lights on, sometimes cause the lights are missing, public buses stoping where ever they like, pulling out whenever they like.
        Vehicles parked on sidewalks fully blocking them…where is the police action here?

    • Anonymous says:

      If they can afford a Cayman brunch, I think they can afford a cab… just sayin’

  12. WBW Premier. says:

    Give me Uber or Flex and I’ll stop. This is beyond ridiculous.

    • Anonymous says:

      nope because the rip-off taxi cartel must be protected….
      welcome to wonderland.

    • Anonymous says:

      Flex is operational and really easy to use. The price is the same as a legit taxi but there are ample taxi drivers so the wait is minimal.

  13. Anonymous says:

    What about all of these fish fry, so call birthday bash and other sometime illegal parties held in parking lots and warehouse area.Why the blind eye to these?????

    • Anonymous says:

      because its their fellow countrymen and countrywomen. If it was Caymanians they would have been targeted LONG TIME! Look at 90% of the DUI’s, hmmmmm guess the Foreigners that fill the many pubs are just in there having a bite to eat and not consuming any alcohol. rigghhtt!

  14. Anonymous says:

    Keep going RCIP. Plenty more then 9 people drunk after brunch on a Sunday.

    • Anonymous says:

      You think RCIPS are going to put cops on every valet stand on West Bay Road but are incapable of putting cops in the parking lots of Everglades, Vics, Bananas , Lillies at chucking out time …..incidence of drunk driving probably very similar, incidence of assaults, stabbing a and shootings not so much.

  15. Anonymous says:

    I hope some officers visited Smith’s Cove and ticketed the lazy motorists who had parked blocking the pedestrian crossing, as well as the usual double yellow lines morons.

  16. SSM345 says:

    Pat on the back police, the public has only been suggesting this strategy for 20yrs+, do we have to wait another 15 before you do the same for Happy Hours or when the bars and clubs close too?

    Or will this fade out by end of July and then nothing again till December when no one drinks and drives because of your annual “operation” to crack down?

  17. Anonymous says:

    Shame you never see a traffic car in the dark on Friday and Saturday night down Shedden and WBR.

    • Anonymous says:

      I saw 2 officers doing radar by the Governor house last weekend. Pulled over a car when I went by. Not me though. I wasn’t speeding.

      But Shedden Road Eastern avenue and Shamrock road need more attention for sure.

  18. Say it like it is. says:

    So the operators of these electronic billboards which are placed just a few feet from speeding traffic are assisting with road safety messages”??. These billboards are a distraction to road users who take their eyes off the road to read the messages – they should not be allowed.

  19. Anonymous says:

    Step one: warn people of crackdown
    Step two: people get a designated brunch driver (just 9 arrests)
    Step three: have police out
    Step four: warn people of crackdown for coming weekend
    Step five: get a designated driver and the rest of us can drive in safety.

    The measure of success isn’t the number of arrests, its step 5. Police – keep up the weekend road patrols. Just set up at the choke points and hot spots and keep the roads safe. Thanks.

    • Really... says:

      Why warn them? They should not be breaking the law anyway!

      • Anonymous says:

        They should not be breaking the law, agreed, but …
        – the police patrol, to make sure the law is being respected, is a fixed cost. Whether there are a lot of drunk drivers or not the patrol is needed.
        – a couple of radio ads and some free news publicity that the patrols will be out is fairly cheap
        – the administrative costs to arrest someone, and then charge them in court, is fairly high
        – the ‘we caught 9 drunk drivers, don’t drink and drive’ after-event report costs the same (is a fixed cost) regardless of how many are caught.
        – Therefore it is cheaper to achieve the same result – less drunk driving – by advertising cops will be on the road (and being there) than by not advertising and arresting lots of people.

  20. Anonymous says:

    Did you even see one police car between WBR and BT?

  21. Slow traffic, please drive in the left lane. says:

    I’m all for cutting loose at brunch and having a good time, but the number of people hoping behind the wheel after too much champagne (I should say sparkling wine!) is ridiculous.

    There should be a cop standing at every valet stand along WB Road, every Sunday from 2 PM onwards. That’d cut down on the numbers for sure!

    • Elvis says:

      These things Re all well and good but having one checkpoint is useless. I came down s sound last week and cars in front of me were basically turning into any turn or complex they could find just to turn around and evade checks. The cars looked mostly like death traps on wheels.
      I told the police officer when i got to the checkpoint that they need a police in plAin clothing or unmarked car further up the read to see this but was instantly dismissed and told to drive on.

      Probably needed 27 for issues with 57 escaping easily lol.

    • Anonymous says:

      ‘after too much champagne (I should say sparkling wine!)’

      Wait a cotton-picking minute there! I’m paying for champagne. I want champagne, not some sparkling grape juice. Varmints!

      • Anonymous says:

        Unless you are branching ATH the Ritz I suspect you are neither paying for champagne or promised it.

    • Anonymous says:

      You think RCIPS are going to put cops on every valet stand on West Bay Road but are incapable of putting cops in the parking lots of Everglades, Vics, Bananas , Lillies at chucking out time …..incidence of drunk driving probably very similar, incidence of assaults, stabbing a and shootings not so much.

    • Anonymous says:

      Simon Courtney would say otherwise…

  22. Woah There says:

    “Just 9”! Another day in Absurdistan. Drunk drivers are selfish pond life who ruin lives and families of innocent people.

    • SSM345 says:

      3:43, Without the police warning on this new operation there would have been 500 on the roads leaving brunch.

      9 or 500, hmmmmmm, think it worked don’t you?

      Now all they need to do is the same after daily happy hours, then again 11pmish and finally when the clubs close.

      A lot of work in the beginning, but that hard work would pay off because people would actually stop.

      Ever notice why numbers are so low in December? Because those who drive drunk regularly for the other 11 months in the year know that December is no BS and police are out to catch you, so they don’t risk it.

      Pre-82 or whenever the DUI law came into effect, you could race the police drunk along WB Rd in your cars, because both you and the officer had been drinking all day at Holiday Inn.

  23. Beach Cleaner says:

    Last night I drove home at 8:45 pm. I nearly had the side of my car ripped off by two cars speeding down the centre lane of WBR, another car trying to pass and cutting in front of me at 40 mph, people in front and behind using their high beams, no one using their indicators at the roundabouts and one car speeding through the red light by Jacques Scott. Ask me if I saw even one police car between WBR and Bodden Town.

    • Anonymous says:

      I bet the answer is no.

      However, due to the amount of people who drive with their high beams on, if it was me, I doubt I could even recognize a police car, such is the damage to my frickin eyesight after being zapped by ultra bright lights.

      Do these idiots not get blinded themselves and wonder how and why this happens???

  24. Anonymous says:

    It’s remarkably poor that the RCIPS feel they need to make such a big deal about doing their daily duties on any day, season, or “special operation” of quasi-showing-up-for-work. Slow clap as we fork out hundreds of millions on this coddled failing-grade mindset.

    • Concerned says:

      They’re educating the public to stop drink-driving. There is nothing wrong with that. Also international practice is to name operations so they can be easily referenced and help budgets be set for that activity.

  25. Anonymous says:

    If the punishment for drunk driving were meaningful, the drunk drivers might consider not driving while intoxicated…… and maybe even drinking less. Of course, the booze merchants wouldn’t like that…….

    • Concerned says:

      AND…
      It is imperative RCIPS now focus on the drivers that will get banned by the courts. This is even more relevant because, believe it or not, they do not keep a computer record of who is banned and who is not. This means if a vehicle is driven by a banned driver and the police stop it, they have no way of checking via the control room if that driver is banned. This is ridiculously inept.
      It demonstrates that they will have to set up a special operation to target these drivers with officers armed with their details and tasked to catch them. Rush hour stops for example. It also highlights to me the importance of the media publishing the convicted drivers details in the press with their vehicle details so the public can inform if they are seen driving.

    • WBW Premier. says:

      And if we got Uber it would be great. Until then it is borderline entrapment. Get a grip.

  26. anon says:

    ‘Just 9 drunk drivers’ no longer illegally endangering the lives of the rest of us. Seems like a result to me.

    • Anonymous says:

      Just 9. What happened? The police decided to work for 5 minutes.

    • Anonymous says:

      Sadly, many of those 9 will continue to drive whilst unlicensed for the next year to keep up appearances…some of them might even give rise to a subsequent arrest while serving disqualification…just look at any week’s Traffic Court cause lists and you’ll see these are not unusual. Time to move DUI and reckless driving to the Criminal Courts and start broadcasting and shaming these names. Permits should be cancelled, and bags should be packed.

      • Anonymous says:

        To be accurate, they will drive with their current licences because they won’t lose them until they are convicted and that’s probably going to take a year even if they don’t contest the charges. The police will take up to 6 months to even charge them, and you are looking at 2 to 3 county appearances before a plea is entered and sentencing. Plead not guilty and challenge the evidence – probably minimum of 2 years to trial. Works quite well for work permit holders.

        • Paul Hampson says:

          Wrong, if charged with DUI their license must be surrendered until they plead or are found guilty

          • Anonymous says:

            Errr no. You can volunteer your license, but otherwise you keep it until the outcome is decided.

            It’s also the ODPP who will determine the time it takes to be charged, assuming the police file is submitted in a timely manner.

      • Anonymous says:

        I now see the cops on the road on Cayman Brac, a good thing. But please start making arrests of the drug barons. We all know who they are, why not you? They can’t be that smart!
        Fridays at the bank is ridiculous, a hot spot. Law abiding citizens are wary to cash their checques now at that time.
        Our “haven” is being over run by ex cons who seem to have learned how to not get caught again.

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