Cops switch focus to night speeders

| 21/10/2021 | 115 Comments
Photo from RCIPS social media

(CNS): The RCIPS road safety enforcement campaign, Operation Quaker, is resuming tomorrow with a new target in mind: night time speeders. From Friday, traffic cops will shift the focus of the traffic operation to people speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol after dark. The police said this is when and why most serious crashes occur.

The renewed focus of Operation Quaker will see an increase in police presence and traffic enforcement at known hot spots, speeding enforcement at various locations, vehicle checkpoints and high-visibility patrols. Drivers should be aware that officers will prosecute all traffic offences, particularly speeding and DUI, throughout the weekends.

“Despite our efforts, we continue to see irresponsible and dangerous driving behaviour, particularly motorists ignoring speed limits and passing other vehicles in inappropriate situations,” said Superintendent Brad Ebanks. “These actions result in not only putting their own lives at risk, but that of their passengers and other road users.”

Within a very short period recently there have been two fatal accidents on South Church Street, which is a 30mph road.

Ebanks said this was the right speed limit “when considering the narrow lanes and multiple hazards, including driveways, trees and intersecting roadways that can impede motorists’ visibility and ability to react quickly when needed. This road is characteristic of many roads in Cayman, where dangerous driving is especially risky and irresponsible, putting all road users in danger.”

The penalty for speeding is a fine of $20 for every mile per hour over the speed limit you are found to be travelling. If the total fine exceeds $500 dollars, you will have to attend court, and on conviction you are liable to have your licence suspended for a minimum of 12 months, along with the fine.

“When we attend major traffic incidents or someone loses their life as a result of a fatal collision, speeding and driving under the influence are almost always a contributing factor,” said Inspector Dwayne Jones, head of the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit. “It’s also important to remember that motorists are not the only road users, and to consider the heightened risk dangerous driving presents for the more vulnerable road users, such as cyclists, runners, walkers and children, especially on roads where there are no sidewalks to utilise.”

The legal blood-alcohol limit in the Cayman Islands is 0.100%. If you are breath-tested and found to have a blood-alcohol content at or exceeding this amount, you will be subject to arrest. Upon conviction you are liable to a fine of $1,000, and will lose your driver’s licence for a minimum period of 12 months. The penalties increase if you have previous DUI convictions.

Chief Inspector Malcolm Kay of Specialist Operations pointed out that both speeding and drunk driving not only risk the drivers’ life and those around them but they carry stiff penalties.

“More importantly, if you are the cause of a fatal or serious collision, your life will be permanently affected from almost every perspective. We appeal to everyone to slow down and not to drink and drive. Don’t put yourself in a position where you have to face the consequences,” he added.

Cayman is having another very bad year when it comes to road smashes. Carlos Luyang Patricio (37) became the eighth person to be killed on Cayman’s roads this year on Saturday evening in South Sound.

Every day the police are called out to several crashes, many of them serious. According to the latest figure, police officers are attending the scene of an average of around 225 collisions every month.


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Category: Crime, Police

Comments (115)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    can the police focus on those that don’t know how to use a dual carriageway. For the slow people. Slow traffic sticks to the left, once you pass (using the right lane) move back into the left lane. It’s not that difficult.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Yes I have. For over 50 years. Never ever seen FOG.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Given the car that ended up in the Lime Tree Bay roundabout overnight last night I would say the new “night speeding ” program is not off to a roaring start.

  4. Mike says:

    Bullshit,a low educate force. that focus on extortion via way of draconius traffic-fines.Instead of worrying about things that really matters,like the hundreds of robbery’s, burglaries, murders etc that is still pending closure.They don’t have time for that, they want waste time on people with darker tint. Wow you a real hero pal. I feel so much safer that;that car don’t have tint now smh.

  5. Anonymous says:

    The RCIPS don’t do themselves any favours when it comes to public perception. Between my early morning run and car travel to the start/finish point which commenced at 3.30am this morning, I basically travelled either by car or on foot from Prospect, around The Queen’s Highway, down Frank Sound and back to Prospect which may be about 40 miles of road. Over this entire route, not one police vehicle was seen, but a good many drivers committing all types of offences were observed.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Enforcement should be all the time. This morning I drove fron Lower Valley to West Bay and counted 68 traffic infringements including speeding, not indicating, wrong lane on dual lane, tailgating and weaving between lanes. Pretty impressive for a 35 minute drive.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Where were the part timers? I got overtook by two knobheads in Breakers both doing in excess of 70mph at 3.45am?

    • Anonymous says:

      Speed cameras need to be setup island wide and tickets sent to the speeders with their license plate number and date and time and failure to pay results in license revoked/ court much like in USA where if you run thru toll booths and don’t pay you will face consequences which can add up to a few hundred dollars

      • Anonymous says:

        Daft over reaction. The vast majority of crashes are not caused by excessive speed.

        • Anonymous says:

          They are. 100% of the time. Moving faster than driver can safely stop, navigate, or move out of the way = crash. For anyone 2x the (very lenient) DUI threshold here, any speed faster than walking pace is already too fast. That’s why they shouldn’t be getting into cars in that condition.

          • Anonymous says:

            Your speed cameras aren’t going to catch anyone for DUI, in fact after the first week they aren’t going to catch anyone at all.

          • Anonymous says:

            If 2 cars are going round a roundabout at 20 mph and the idiot in the left lane decides to try and turn right, that crash isn’t a result of excessive speed. Yes it resulted in both cars moving and if one was doing 10 mph it might not have happened but you are making a fatuous point. Clearly by excessive speed the poster meant, at a speed in excess of the speed limit; most crashes do not happen well in excess of the speed limit so focusing on speed is not going to reduce the number of crashes by anything meaningful; it hasn’t anywhere else.

        • Anonymous says:

          But reducing speeding will help!! It cannot hurt. Plus these devices require no additional staff.

          • Anonymous says:

            No additional staff? You think CIG can implement a fully automated network of speed cameras without any additional staff? Oh boy.

          • Anonymous says:

            It can hurt. It takes any focus, if there ever was any, off the real problem which is appalling driving standards. Excessive speed and a lack of skill are a symptom of a lack of driver training and proper licensing.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Police need to catch this at the source. We had a very effective campaign years ago in Ireland. When the police would make note of all the cars parked up in car parks outside pubs near clubs. Would stay in their area and as soon as a punter got in and drove, they got stopped. Get it before they even hit the roads and make it known. Trust me it’s a huge deterrent . Why they don’t do here is beyond me. Once drunk drivers hit the road it’s catch me if you can. Focus a campaign on this and I guarantee you will see results.

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh, but the bar owners would object and politicians – who are some of the best customers at certain establishments – would cave to their demands.

  9. Anonymous says:

    We need 1) proper fairly priced taxis and 2) a public transport system. The taxis are a rip off and the bus and taxi drivers can’t drive properly and many are unvaccinated, and the buses just stop on roundabouts and pull out nearly crashing into people every day. They are third world.

    Maybe a tram system up the middle lane of w bay road and through gt like they have in Manchester or many European cities would be a good idea.

    • Anonymous says:

      A tram? HAHAHA. Half the people here can’t figure out how a roundabout works and you want to throw a 50 tonne train into the mix?

    • Anonymous says:

      If you can’t afford a competitive and reasonable $25 taxi fare, then I’ll guess you can’t afford the municipal running costs of a tram. Why is drinking responsibly always someone else’s problem in the Cayman Islands? An epidemic of stupid rationalising and ritual DUI.

  10. Anonymous says:

    I would just like to announce in advance that I am going to work to do my job properly tomorrow

  11. Anonymous says:

    Pick up some wealthy drug expats. Teach them a lesson.

  12. Anonymous says:

    When Uber?

  13. Anonymous says:

    Wow, they figured that out all by themselves did they?

  14. Anonymous says:

    Could we please have similar programs on the Sister Islands?? So many people speeding, many construction or even government vehicles and not getting fined.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Police boy blue…you actually exists?

  16. Anonymous says:

    In the UK excessive speed is cited in police reports as a factor in just 7% of crashes. In Cayman I bet it’s even less. This obsession with speed makes no sense. Frankly I’d rather take my chances with some idiot doing 60 than another idiot doing 20 and changing lane randomly on a roundabout whilst indicating to do the opposite or a drunk.

    • Anonymous says:

      It doesn’t matter what country you’re in it’s always the same terrible drivers complaining about other people speeding whilst invariably being the same people who drive in the wrong lane, not paying attention, talking on the phone; they think if they drive at or under the speed limit then they’re good, safe drivers. I wonder how many have ever taken an advanced driving course where you learn to drive at an appropriate speed for the conditions, not to slavishly follow speed limits with your mouth open. Focus on what is going to make a real difference; proper driver training; proper testing; real licenses; enforcement of dangerous driving and DUI.

    • Anonymous says:

      Excessive = traveling faster than attention span and ability to anticipate, avoid obstruction or stop.

  17. Anonymous says:

    Best of luck for extreme success. Please include anyone using fog lights. Those should be made illegal and the wiring disconnected the first time a vehicle is ever licensed and then checked every registration afterwards. Anyone caught using them should be fined $1000.

    • Anonymous says:

      You’ve obviously never been up early enough to see fog here. Yes it does happen.

      • Anonymous says:

        Mist yes. Fog that requires fog lights, no. Never.

        • Anonymous says:

          I, too, have seen and driven through fog – not mist – here. Only once though, back in the 80s. I don’t remember the exact time, but it was probably between 2am and 3am and it was in Savannah.

  18. Truth says:

    Breaking laws on the road should be held against there work permits depending on how serous the driving offense, that I think will help out a great deal.

  19. Anonymous says:

    The reality is that until there is a more convenient, reliable and economically viable alternative for people to get around point to point people will continue to firstly use their own cars to go places drunk or not.

    • Anonymous says:

      Very soon we’ll be able to dispatch our self-driving car to a standby lot and come and get us when we’re ready.

  20. Anonymous says:

    Being a night owl I regularly hear cars and motorbikes screaming down Shamrock Road after midnight. Actually early this Tuesday morning gone there was a motorbike tearing down Shamrock Road around 1:30am. It must have been going at least 90mph, I don’t think the rider or anyone they might have hit would have had a chance. Do the cops even work at night? Maybe if we had a few donut shops along Shamrock we might have more cops working this late night F1 racetrack.

  21. Anonymous says:

    The police need to use the helicopter to catch dangerous drivers. Watch from above and radio down.

    • Anonymous says:

      Alas, there don’t seem to be deployed surface assets to coordinate with, or direct triangulation on a pursuit. They are at the clubhouse and will be there in 30-45 minutes

  22. Anonymous says:

    Catch enough people in the morning rush to work 5-7, and the offenders will eventually slow down.

    As it is, there are no tickets given, no legal consequences for speeding and poor driving, so why obey the law?

  23. Anonymous says:

    why does this have to be a special project? just do this all the time, 24 hours a day 7 days a week! please, somebody explain that why this is not the case.

  24. Anonymous says:

    Why the warning? Just do it.

    • Anonymous says:

      It’s literally their job. Makes no sense.

      • Anonymous says:

        Imagine emailing your boss to announce your intention to commence full-time daily sworn duties – but only for the limited seasonal period of November and December of each year – and being allowed to present it that way, to raptured applause, and Ritz Carlton Champagne-Fueled Officer’s Balls, for decades. Next comes the predictable seasonal “statements of disappointment” with the very public they were supposed to be serving and protecting. You can set your watch to it every year. The RCIPS then have the temerity to wonder aloud why the public doesn’t respect or trust them, or have the confidence to volunteer as witnesses. It should make us all wonder why the police are so afraid to upset the belligerent elements on something so mundane as normal traffic duty. What do they know that we don’t know?

  25. Anonymous says:

    I’ve never seen a speeding checkpoint set up after dark. Ever. I have heard of one, but I’m yet to witness it happen.

    Please start with Shamrock Road by Lantern Point to South Shore. The speed indicators there must go through lots of bulbs, given the amount of flashing they do. The speeds seen and heard are ridiculous – and this is on a stretch of road with several large complexes, so there’s lots of cars turning on and off the road.

    Oh, and can we start fining those high beam/low IQ types, who think that at night you have to constantly blaze your headlights to blind oncoming traffic. I’d guess it’s at least 10% of all cars at night!

    • Abc says:

      High beam…no iq more like.
      Take a trip down eastern ave at 5.30am any you’ll happily meet a lot of these morons…75% will be a public bus.
      And lets not forget about the ones who don’t even bother to turn on their lights….if they have….never seen a traffic stop here for any reason

      • Anonymous says:

        The problem is that a patrol car has to be traveling opposite to the idiots, then perform a u-turn. Then issue a ticket.

        I’d rather they just shoot rockets from the patrol car and eliminate the vehicle from the road.

  26. Anonymous says:

    Why can’t we just add cameras to the speed signs, to catch speeders and send them a ticket to appear in court or pay the bill.

    Having two police officers (sometimes more) and at least two police cars most times sitting on the side of the road with a very expensive radar in hand cannot truly be economically or financially sound.

    Imagine how many speeders and how much money the government could make for this simple system that is done everywhere in the world besides Cayman?

    • Anonymous says:

      The current Traffic Law is written such that you have to identify the driver. Other jurisdictions have changed this approach to allow for the ticket to be sent to the owner.

    • Anonymous says:

      The RFID plates should make this really easy, like the Mobile Pass transponders in the USA, you just get emailed your toll charge and pay online….or then get a summons after a certain arrears period. No relicensing vehicle until fees are cleared.

    • Anonymous says:

      And I’ll wager the number of crashes would go up as you’d all pay even less attention dribbling along under the speed limit. The problem is a huge number of incompetent drivers at all speeds, not the small number driving faster than the limit.

    • Anonymous says:

      Exactly I commented the same thing a short while ago in response to a comment that is what needs to be done and quick

  27. C'Mon Now! says:

    RCIPS just needs to do it’s job. More tickets and enforcement of the law.

    Standard of driving here is terrible. People should also get points on their license for each ticket and at a certain point get sent to mandatory driver training at their own cost.

  28. Tootie Eldemire says:

    Bars need to close at midnight Monday thru Saturday and close on Sundays. Less drinking time for people therefore less alcahol involved. It was like that years ago. Just saying.

    • Sober Up Kman says:

      100% behind you Tootie E close this s#@!down This ridiculous amount of accidents are alcohol related because some of these folks just simply don’t give a damn about this place or other road users!

    • Anonymous says:

      More fundamentally, why are there sprawling and full parking lots at weekend nightclubs, and no cops that can reason ahead to the obvious conclusion that “to protect and serve the public”, they ought to be there themselves – at least at closing time – to intercede on DUIs? It’s like fish in a barrel, and they can’t seem to figure this out.

  29. Anonymous says:

    🥷🏻 ‘From Friday, traffic cops will shift the focus of the traffic operation to people speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol after dark. The police said this is when and why most serious crashes occur.’

    Is that right RCIP ? – coincidentally I read that Ninjas (first around in the 15th Century) wore black to hide in the shadows of the night to remain undetected. Sadly though the ninja seems to be facing extinction, – ‘experts in the dark arts of espionage and silent assassination, ninjas passed skills from father to son – but today’s say they will be the last’. Bide your time RCIP, those you seek will likely in due course bear the same fate.

    • Anon says:

      What drivel – Hope your medication kicks in soon Bubba!

      • Anonymous says:

        8:56 – help a bubba with an amphetamine problem out; besides that ‘drivel’ relating to the realisation that speeding and drinking happens after dark to initiate the operation was precisely the point, 😉

  30. Anonymous says:

    What’s the point if the DPP are going to offer no evidence when people are caught almost double the limit after fleeing the scene of an accident?

    • Connections mi amigo says:

      That’s what happens when you have a high CIG position and lots of connected friends.

      Plus, he got full pay while suspended for these past several years and was able to work elsewhere during this time so his income went up.

      Put Clouseau on the case.

  31. Polar bear says:

    In my experience hotspots seem to occur wherever there’s a light pole.

  32. WBW. Czar. says:

    Give me Uber or Flex and I’ll stop.

    • Anonymous says:

      EXACTLY. Although money should be less important than doing the right thing and saving lives the reality is that Taxi rates are really high (especially when looking at it as a round trip) and the service isn’t always reliable, rates inconsistent between drivers etc etc. This is a huge part of the problem IMO.

      • Anonymous says:

        In fairness, I don’t think rates are that far off big city Uber rates. Any grownup running a 20 mile fare off island, should expect the fare to be $50 dollar for dollar. Here, you’re just sitting in a goofy used Japanese Bus instead of a Suburban, and you don’t get to rate each other. Maybe just as well to be honest.

    • Anonymous says:

      Or regulate the taxi drivers. Start with taking away the cab that the mom has a license for but not the offspring.

  33. Beaumont Zodecloun says:

    I don’t understand why they have to choose. Surely there are enough officers and equipment to target speeders all times of the day?

    • Anonymous says:

      The Orionid meteor shower peaked today Beaumont, – that’s all I could find that might help ‘understand’

    • Anon says:

      Especially when, compared to the average UK town, Cayman has 4 times as many cops per head of population. When you see a DUI road death, the police are partly responsible. Drinking and driving is endemic here and they have let it get this way. Far too lax. When do you ever see a disquauified driver at court? What is the point taking a driver’s license if he/she can just drive anyway with no fear of being caught. They should be setting up to catch them. Finally, the legislators. If people don’t fear the fine and ban, increase the punishments. Make being drunk and in an accident imprisonable. With all the emotional over reaction to COVID, when no one has died from it here, why the ignorance to the driving death rate? EIGHT people are dead and Cayman legislators are asleep at the wheel. (sorry anout the pun)

      • Anonymous says:

        Policing the Cayman Islands isn’t directly comparable to a typical UK town. The challenges are very different.

        That aside, the priorities are wrong. Traffic causes misery, and vehicle ownership is very high. Therefore, treat traffic police department as a priority.

        As for the bit about disqualified drivers not being punished, check out the cause list online. There are plenty caught, and caught again. The system needs fixing, so that enforcement has repercussions for the offenders.

      • Make the bars liable says:

        Why not make the bars liable?

  34. Anonymous says:

    So the trucks hauling fill from east eand can speed freely now

    • Anonymous says:

      I agree…….It is outrageous how those dump trucks are consistently driven so aggressively and far too fast. There is nothing rare about it, I see it all the time, and yet the Police seem to take zero interest in them!! This is a real danger to focus on.

    • Anonymous says:

      Always could!

    • Anonymous says:

      They don’t even stop going into roundabouts. A few weeks ago a huge truck almost took out my car as I was already in the circle and he decided he would go instead. I freaked and honked my horn. The guy then stopped in the middle of the roundabout trying to tell me off like I was the problem. Then yesterday another dump truck went flying into the kings roundabout causing me to break again. These guys are absolute asshats and can’t drive for shit.

  35. Anonymous says:

    And still no automated ticketing system using cameras? Why?

    • Anonymous says:

      Because turning the majority of otherwise careful drivers into mindless drones staring at their speedos isn’t particularly good at improving driving standards. The quality of driving in the UK has collapsed since they covered the whole damn country in speed cameras. Turns out there’s more to driving safely than obeying an arbitrary number.

    • Anonymous says:

      Because we have no way to enforce it. The lack of tax on this island has caused unforeseen problems.

      How do you ticket somebody when you have no ID number? the car is owned by one person, but can be driven by somebody else? When an address is just a location because we don’t have a mail service and post codes? When interaction with the government can be basically zero, you have limited options for controlling this stuff.

    • Anonymous says:

      Because the cops can’t even be trusted to operate a breathalyser properly, let alone operate and maintain 21st century technology.

    • Anonymous says:

      Mainly, it’s probably due to the postal system here, and the fact about 50% of driving licenses have out of date/completely incorrect addresses on them. Assuming the vehicle documentation is up to date, too.

    • Anon says:

      Because those target everyone, not just those that don’t matter.

    • Anonymous says:

      Call up your MP and ask

  36. Anonymous says:

    Why can’t the RCIPS just do their job, like other police departments around the world with fewer full-time employees, vehicles, and other equipment? It is staggeringly incompetent.

  37. The True Pandemic says:

    Sadly, speeding and drunk driving is the true pandemic.

    • Anonymous says:

      I agree. Too many careless irresponsible negligent texting while driving morons on the road. Too many fatalities every year. Almost as bad as getting ripped off on a car repair at GT Automotive. So upsetting!

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