Early morning road crash claims first life of 2022
(CNS): One man is dead and a woman is seriously injured following a single-vehicle collision on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway this morning. The smash happened around 1:00am at the Cost-U-Less roundabout. A white sedan travelling north came off the road and slammed into the concrete sculpture on the roundabout circle.
Emergency services were called to the scene and the man and woman were freed from the car by the Cayman Islands Fire Service and taken to hospital. Police said the man was pronounced dead by the attending doctor while the woman remains in the hospital being treated for serious injuries.
The road and roundabout by Cost-U-Less remained blocked this morning and both north and south bound traffic were limited to the left lanes, while the right lanes remain closed, including the exit west onto Lime Tree Bay Avenue. Motorists were advised to exercise caution in the area and take an alternative route where possible until the road is fully cleared.
The deceased, who has not yet been identified, is the first person to die on Cayman roads this year, just six days into 2022. Last year a total of nine people lost their lives in road collisions, with the last fatal crash of 2021 happening in Red Bay in December.
Two people had a narrow escape on the afternoon of 2 January following a serious head-on smash in Savannah near the junction of Homestead Crescent and Shamrock Road. One man was trapped in a vehicle and had to be freed by fire crews. He was taken to hospital in critical condition, while two other people were also injured.
The latest road fatality is now being investigated by the police and anyone with information is encouraged to call the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit at 649-6254, or the George Town Police Station at 949-4222.
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Category: Local News
Love ’em or hate ’em, extensive bodies of research in the US and EU have found that roundabouts lead to significantly fewer injury collisions and far fewer fatalities than right-angle intersections with traffic lights or stop signs. Conversion to roundabouts also results in quicker traffic flow, with a reduction in delays of anywhere between 20% and 89%. One study by the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that roundabouts provide a 90A percent reduction in fatal crashes, a 76 percent reduction in injury crashes, and a 30 to 40 percent reduction in pedestrian crashes.
A lot of people seem to be in a mad rush.
The other night as I was going through the Goddard roundabout on the left towards the bypass to Prospect School a driver speeded into the intersection from the Red Bay Area.
He did not slow much less stop to give way to the right as he is required to do and soon the much smaller vehicle was directly in the path of my Jeep.
I had to floor the brakes and completely stop to avoid broadsiding the car that continued to speed away.
Fortunately I was driving within the speed limit and my brakes were replaced last year, enabling me to avert what could have been a tragedy—the other driver could very well have been killed from the blow from my much heavier vehicle against the side of his small car.
Aside from the possibility of injuries, my life would have been turned upside down, all due to speed and lack of respect for the rules of the road.
Folks, it is just not worth it. Slow down and follow the rules of the road.
8:23 where is this place that you know,where Police prevent accidents and incendents!
Remember , once you are on the road you are open to “accidents “ that’s why all vehicles need to be insured. There will be accidents!!
There will always be right and wrong as well
Can you imagine what will happen when we have to drive on overpasses?
I can’t wait. Darwin has been waiting for that moment to prove his theories.
I personally can’t wait. The road to 100,000 population will be well and truly reversed.
Darwinism at its finest.
Might as well get an early start on the year. People are stupid and careless. Sorry for the loss to the family but slowing down and following the speed limits will more than likely keep this from happening on the regular……….fat chance though, again, people are stupid and careless
Yes, people are stupid and careless……….. otherwise they would not put dangerous things like roundabouts on public streets and highways.
2022
Roads: 1
‘Rona: 0
No COVID-19/”Rona” deaths of the (un)vaccinated for the New Year, thus far?
That is, deaths [1]FROM COVID-19 (immune compromised) or deaths [2] WITH COVID-19 (comorbidities).
Damn 15ft monolith just jumped out from nowhere……said no-one EVER!
Proper based. Jamrocks caught off guard.
Take a drive around cayman on a Saturday or Sunday morning and cars can be spotted in bushes, roundabouts, walls and sticking through fences in peoples yards. It is quite clearly a mixture of alcohol and speed that is the main cause of these accidents. Instead of washing away millions in handouts why not put a decent traffic division together with unmarked police cars to get these idiots off the roads. Quite clearly the roads are just a free for all with heavy equipment falling off trucks and cars ending upside down in the middle of tennis courts and rammed into roundabouts. Cayman is a race track and these fools need to be taken off the roads.
I agree wholeheartedly. I haven’t been out on NY Eve for years but convinced my husband that it would be nice to drive to SMB to watch the fireworks. Before we even got to the beach we witnessed on 2 separate occasions cars racing as they weaved between the cars on the bypass coming extremely close to vehicles following the laws of the road. We left the beach immediately after the fireworks display, and our experience on the road back to GT was the same. If those crazy fools want to kill themselves let them, but the likelihood is that they will cause a terrible accident for the innocent law abiding drivers, and the crazy driving fools will be long gone.
The law in Cayman says you must pull over to the left lane unless you are overtaking or preparing to turn right. If people are able to weave through traffic then those cars in the right lane are probably not “following the laws of the road” as you claim. Defensive driving 101; keep out of trouble just pull over and let the idiots go on their way.
What you are describing is “lane hogging”, and I once saw a quote from a Police Officer that said, “treat the outside lane like a toilet, do your business (overtaking) and then get off and back in the left hand lane.”
“Lane hogging” encourages people to overtake on the inside.
What a pile of nonsense. Cayman doesn’t have long highways and freeways where the ‘fast lane/slow lane’ thing matters. Get off it!
Basically, any 2+ lane roadway in Cayman will have a roundabout or a junction every half-mile or so.
How much of a bloody hurry are you in that you need someone to pull left so you can speed past them just to hit your brakes for the roundabout waiting ahead?
No one mentioned fast/slow lane except you. Cayman road code, page 20 “Use the right-hand lane for overtaking or turning right. As soon as practicable after overtaking, you are to move back to the left lane. ”
https://www.dvdl.gov.ky/documents/Road-Code-2012-1-2021-02-25-02-10-56.pdf
Clearly you are part of the problem. Why do you care if someone is in a hurry? Just move out of the way and the risk to you and your family will be less without idiots weaving around you. Google defensive driving and learn something useful.
Nope. You can keep enjoying the view of my rear bumper.
You can post some obscure line from the ‘road code’ all you want, but the traffic law also says that speeding is illegal.
If I’m going the speed limit, why would I move over or speed up to ALLOW you to speed just so you can get where you’re headed 1 minute earlier and put others at risk?
You seem like the type to park in a disabled space because it’s closer to the door.
YOU are the problem. Slow your bunky down, bobo. If you want to drive in the fast lane, book a flight to Miami and hit the interstate.
I guess googling defensive driving was beyond you. Learn to drive.
Well you just identified yourself as one of the idiots. Do you turn right at roundabouts using the left lane too?
What a silly post. Clearly you have never undertaken any advanced driver training. You have the choice of following the rules of the road and removing yourself from the path of others but instead you choose to make them undertake you which increases the chance they will hit you. Just because someone else is driving poorly doesn’t mean you should too. You are part of the problem. Have some lessons.
You’ve no right to complain about other people breaking the rules when you are too.
You can dislike all you like but if you’re one of the dimwits sat in the right lane forcing the other idiots to swerve round you then you’re also part of the problem. Defensive driving keeps you safer. Stay left unless overtaking, it’s the law and it reduces the risk to you and your family. Or b keep doing what your doing and get in a wreck with one of your fellow idiots.
Defensive driving will get you killed in these parts.
“The use (and abuse) of roundabouts” April 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣
The National Roads Authority advised in a statement (2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣) that they “have been working on multiple ways to help make our roads safer for the benefit of the entire Cayman community.”
Sam Small, civil engineer at SEL Consulting, said the frequency of accidents could be due to the design of some roundabouts.
“Several of the roundabouts in Cayman have moved away from the traditional type with the outer edge raised and an inward slope, which is known as a ‘super elevated,’ to what is called ‘adverse camber or outward sloping,’” Mr. Small said.
The Cayman National roundabout in George Town had about 30 (2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣)or more accidents and at least three injuries, and the DMS roundabout at Grand Harbour incurred nearly 45 accidents, including one fatality.
A statement from the National Road Authority said, “safety counter-measures” are CURRENTLY 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣, being tested, including transverse rumble strips and anti-skid coating at some crosswalks and major roundabouts.
In January,2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣, the roads authority launched a road safety assessment with the International Road Assessment Programme, which aims to help officials determine which sections of Cayman’s roadways are potentially unsafe in terms of engineering standards.
Where one can see the 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣Road Safety Assessment Report?
It would be hard to believe that the roundabout caused this crash in any way. They ran the the middle at excessive speed!
You most certainly may believe the roundabout caused this! Why should ANYTHING be placed in the middle of a highway!
Roundabouts were brought to us by people who couldn’t think clearly.
Go and look at the roundabout. This has nothing to do with camber or the radius of the roundabout. The car went straight across the roundabout until it hit the large concrete sculpture in the middle. No turning involved.
Why is there ANYTHING in the center???
Like the car. Why the f is it there??
1:08 To stop you and others reaching the other side!
1:08 To save Lives!
Better for an out of control vehicle to hit an immovable object in the centre of the roundabout than go straight through and collide with vehicles on the other side.
so drunk, speeding cars don’t fly through it into oncoming traffic, killing multiple innocent people who know they need to follow the road.
Do you also wonder why they put up a hard divide between the two flows of traffic as well? or Bollards in pedestrian zones?
There is no help for you then, as you must be a real caudex
3:52 pm Your comments are useless to this conversation. (a) relying on Sam Small (barely an engineer and certainly not a traffic or roads engineer at that) and (b) suggesting that the road design lead to this accident is ridiculous. Speed kills….plain and simple. Sadly, the driver was at fault here, not the road or the road’s designers.
Drivers rev up safety skills ( 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣6️⃣)
…government and private-sector employees were recently (2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣6️⃣) trained in Safety Inspection Awareness of heavy-equipment vehicles.
This course is vital to the promotion of road safety, and it reinforces the skills set that all heavy 🚚🚜🚍🛻🚛equipment users should use,’ Department of Vehicle Licensing and Transport Supervisor Roy Bush explained in a press release( 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣6️⃣). ‘This is part of an ONGOING ❗️❗️❗️ project involving a revamping of our vehicle inspection procedures.’
DVLT organised the training, in partnership with Caycan Safety Consulting Ltd.
Topics include air; hydraulic and electrical braking systems; suspension; coupling devices; steering; frame; wheels; tires; and load securement.
“NRA launches new road safety initiative”, January 17, 201️⃣4️⃣
Safety assessment teams are hitting the highways and byways of the Cayman Islands ( in 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣)to give 🌟star ratings on the state of local roads.
The object of the exercise is to identify roads that are under par in terms of safety so they can be improved and, in turn, the number of fatal accidents slashed.
The initiative, which began last week (2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣), was launched in response to the increasing ⬆️number of traffic deaths on local roads in recent years, government officials said.
The NRA has teamed up with the International Road Assessment Program, a nonprofit organization that is providing road inspections, road safety investment plans, technology and support to the Cayman Islands.
… road inspections will be done with an NRA vehicle outfitted with five cameras to collect digital and panoramic images or videos of roads. … An analysis team will survey 2️⃣3️⃣7️⃣ miles of local roads.
… the survey started last week ( 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣) and will continue until next Friday. A follow-up report, which will contain countermeasures for road safety, is estimated to be released in June (2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣).
The road assessment project will cost US$155,000
WHEN ONE CAN SEE THE REPORT❓❓❓
“Stupid people at stupid times in stupid places”.
Simple as that. He was speeding, not paying attention, his brakes locked up as he approaching the roundabout and then he went over the central reservation and into the roundabout.
It’s impossible to hit that structure if you follow the road even if you speed into it as the road curves off the left and around it.
If you live in lime tree bay you hear these idiots all the time.
Harsh but it’s reality. Don’t drive stupid.
So some people are blaming the artwork? Not excessive speed and/or DUI?
If you want to end excessive speeding, install speed cameras. You cant renew (or transfer) your car’s registration until all speeding fines are paid. Simple.
Could well have prevented this idiot from crashing with another car
The main cause of bad accidents are the terrible drivers. the main cause of bad drivers are no/low levels of law enforcement on the roads(no retraining). The main cause of no/low levels of law enforcement is a continued culture of lawlessness and fear of laws and police by those in power and those who vote for them. Can’t touch that.
I was just in Cayman after 2 years and drove every day that I was there. The number of speeders and overtakers were incredible and I was not driving below the speed limit. There were some pretty reckless drivers on the roads at all hours of the day and night. I saw many near miss accidents as people were driving in the wrong lanes to get one car ahead, driving down the middle lane at high rates of speed, and just complete reckless driving. I am not quite sure I would rent a car next time I am on island just for that reason.
I agree the problem is terrible drivers but not that the cause of terrible drivers is a lack of law enforcement. We are all subject to the same level of law enforcement but we are obviously not all terrible drivers! I could be wrong but I strongly suspect the common factor in almost all of these crashes is that the drivers did their driver training and first passed their tests in Cayman or Jamaica.
12:12 Or Miami!
1:25 pm Perfect summation.
time to ban cars obviously
I bet professional road safety designers were NOT involved in decision making for the structure installation.
Family of the victim must explore if they can file a claim against whoever is responsible for the safe roads design in Cayman.
I looked at roundabouts images on google, none has any structures installed
P.S. When I first moved to Cayman, I frequently missed the existence of roundabouts confusing them with flowerbeds in some cases or completely missing-they were small, unmarked and literally invisible. Lots has changed since then.
Similar accident happened recently in SWFL
https://www.winknews.com/2021/12/27/fort-myers-woman-killed-in-bonita-springs-roundabout-crash/
Are you joking? The roads and roundabouts are perfectly safe if you stay within the speed limits.
They are perfectly safe well over the speed limit too. It’s incompetent, unskilled drivers who are not safe at any speed.
You are a complete idiot in so many ways. – I don’t even have the energy to list them. Have a nice day.
At some point, people need to take responsibility for their own actions.
11:53 What about if that STRUCTURE, had been your best Friend or Dog, what would be the blame!
Go and look at ANY roundabout….. They were conceived by the devil! Or a lunatic!
Regrettably you are one of the imbeciles using the road. You are not meant to crash into the structures in the middle of roundabouts. Oh dear.
Suppose you were at the roundabout giving way to traffic already on the roundabout when one of those mad dump truck drivers has a brake failure, plows into your rear end and pushes you up against the structure. To place such a structure on a roundabout is only reducing the risk of survival whether it is your bad driving or another drivers fault.
You are not ‘meant’ to crash into crash rails placed at the side of highways either, but they help you survive more than a brick wall would.
Please put your name and address so we can book you in for a public stoning
11:53……stupid post of the day! That structure didn’t jump out in front of him. It was safely tucked away in the middle of a roundabout! My money goes on driving under the influence PLUS excessive speed and possibly a poorly maintained car as a bonus.
Add comedy driving licence to the list.
What utter drivel. Stay off the roads.
Please go back to Florida.
yep, just moved out in front of the driver. Bloody yanks and looking for who to blame and make a buck
11:53 what part of the structure is part of the Road!
Seriously???
All over the globe you can see statues and structures in the centres of roundabouts.
Perhaps you need to try Google again. This time with your glasses on.
One hundreds of examples that returned on Google:
https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/resources/images/4439409?type=responsive-gallery-fullscreen
Thank you for the inspiration to see more of these. I hope that our crazy drivers never visit these places:
https://stpeterising.com/home/2020/9/2/the-edge-district-roundabout-is-getting-a-200k-sculpture
https://stmaartennews.com/culture/roundabout-statues-important-symbols/
https://www.cleveland.com/akron/2019/09/akrons-new-main-street-roundabout-will-feature-rubber-worker-statue.html
https://www.cleveland.com/akron/2019/09/akrons-new-main-street-roundabout-will-feature-rubber-worker-statue.html
Whoever built that, can I hire you to do my house?
I saw the car this morning on my way to work, but my only question is: how???
RIP, but not surprised. There have been at least 10 near misses at the same spot over the years. Speeding, reckless driving and a 2 tonne concrete monolith in the direct line of the oncoming traffic is a recipe for disaster.
Anywhere else in the world where you see the monolithic structures on roundabouts we see here , advertising banks, insurance companies & marketing firms ? Often adorned with advertisements & bright festive light’s which all obscure a drivers view & are a hazard , as has been proven. The question needs to be addressed on what local body promotes & who approves these traffic-illegal structures.
Yeah, I’m sure this accident was caused by the driver’s view being obscured by the “monolithic structure.” We need to make all the roundabouts bare and never decorate them so that our responsible drivers can see beyond them at 1 a.m.
11:54 It is beyond your scope, to realize that structure could have saved more lives!
Yeah. Problem is centuries old. L’Arche de Triomphe blocks the main road in Paris. Given the amount of traffic it must kill thousands every year.
Or maybe people drive with due care and attention and avoid it.
I am sorry about this tragic death, but blaming immovable objects helps no one. Shall we cut down every tree within 100 feet of the road, and move light poles into your garden?
In Caynan it’s too easy to own a car, too many cars on the roads with bad drivers.. Up Import duties to 100 % on all big engines and second hand vehicles and 75 % on over 3500 cc and 60 % on less than 2500 CC Vehicles and 30 % on hybrid and 15 % on full electric cars.
3:34 That will prevent the poor idiots from killing themselves and others on the roads but sadly will not prevent the rich ones… 🙁
A special punitive Tax on all Honda Fits
need more police on the roads. why so many hit and runs? because they don’t have insurance, not registered to the correct owner and basically not road worthy. cars driving with bold tires, no lights, black tint and those stupid spikey wheel nuts like something out of gladiator. complete sh$t show of traffic laws on this island. 25% of the cars on the roads shouldn’t be there.
How about the police actually do their job and enforce traffic laws so maybe there will be a deterrent to bad behavior. Unfortunately there are always people in society who will not follow the rules unless there are negative consequences for doing so. Why does a dog lick its balls, because it can.
8:23 where is this place that you know,where Police prevent accidents and incendents!
Anywhere there is actual enforcement of traffic laws and punishment for violations. If you know there are speed traps or cameras set up and stiff fines for getting caught then the number of people speeding will be less. Less speeding less accidents. I know it’s a difficult concept to grasp.
3:34 With all you have said, one driver can only drive one Vehicle at any one time!
Have you ever driven in Paris? ROTFLMFAO!
Bad ideas aren’t prohibited at PLA or NRA SAGCs, they are spawned at the Board level. There don’t appear to be any credentialed road engineers or supervisors on the payroll willing to intervene prior to committing funds, nor are there functioning road safety committees or competent public traffic reviews. If there were, maybe we’d see the bike lanes we paid for since 2005 by now – each of those dissolving into hard curbing at successive roundabout junctions. There is no consistency to our gazetted roadways. Different experimental markings and quailty standards at each. Remember the “pedestrian refuges” along West Bay Road?
NRA minutes provide a window into this top-down dysfunction:
https://www.caymanroads.com/documents/BOD-Minutes-June-9-2021-SIGNEDRedacted-20210927113922.pdf
So you’re blaming a structure that is off the road? He could have ran straight through and hit another car. Better that wall than me!
If people drove properly, soberly and sensibly, you could quite happily put a pit of molten lava in the middle of the roundabout without causing any problems.
And obscuring your view of what, exactly? There isn’t a roundabout on the island which prevents you from properly checking right prior to entering.
The irony that seems to escape this fool is that if your view is blocked, which it isn’t, you should slow down even more! In fact that’s a technique that is sometimes used in Europe to slow cars entering roundabouts.
The structure that was crashed into was not adorned with bright lights and signs. It was not even large enough to obstruct the view of the road. The only way a car could have rammed into it is if it was traveling at high speed or if the driver was impaired (drunk high who knows). Removing structures on the roundabout will not stop these accidents and fatalities.
Removing the roundabouts would be the most sensible thing they could do.
Surely you are not blaming the sculpture for the accident. Have the stones to lay the blame firmly where it lies – in the lap of the (sadly) deceased.
So nothing to do with excessive speed, carelessness, alcohol, etc.????? Just the signs, lights, etc.? Strange but I have never had a problem. Guess I best watch out.
None of the things you mention obscure the view and they are only a hazard for morons who crash into them at an excessive speed. If you can’t safely navigate a roundabout with an immovable structure on it please stay off the road.
I’ve found the best method of avoiding roundabout structures, is to simply drive round them and not trying to drive through them
I do the same with buildings that are on corners.
To me it seems obvious driving into buildings or concrete structures is not a good idea.
Just follow the road it really isn’t a hard as you seem to make out
You know that roundabout is covered in brightly lit reindeer and other Christmas decorations right? A blind man would struggle to miss it at night. And of course the driver also completely missed seeing the curved central reservation before the roundabout – which has no monolithic structure just kerb stones and grass but obviously running over that was t enough to slow him down. But sure – it’s the sculptures fault. Just like all those light poles that drivers hit with monotonous regularity.
ok so lets not build a building within 150ft of a junction or road. problem fixed.
only if you drive like a spanner …. smh
If one were to drive responsibily, actually understand how kinetic energy applied to this equation, one would understand that braking requires distance to decelerate the mass prior to impacting the monolith.
So having the monolith there is not the recipe for disaster; it’s the irresponsible, ignorant and poor driving skills that we see on our roads day and night.
The wall arrested all of the kinetic energy. The vehicle no longer has any energy to expend.
That 2 tonne concrete monolith should be taken to court for running into that car!
I call it a deterrent.
Such sad news. My heart goes out to the people and families involved.
Hi CNS – For Covid reporting we get a chart with total cases, total deaths and total people in quarantine. Can we please begin car crash reporting with a chart of total crashes, total deaths, and total persons ticketed for road related infringements?
I think side by side charts will help us visualize these particular health threats and how these threats are being mitigated.
CNS: The RCIPS produces crime stats/reports annually (which we keep in the CNS Library here) and periodic statistics. We keep a tally of road deaths.
We already know the risks from driving, that is why we have so many laws controlling who can drive, the need for insurance, speed limits, penalties for driving under the influence, need to wear seatbelts, laws regarding cell phone use, etc.
As the roughly the same number of people died of COVID here, as died on the roads in 2021, we should have more laws to control the risk of COVID, so it is in line with the laws to mitigate risks while driving.
We can start with mandating the vaccine and boosters, just like you need to pass test to qualify to drive a car.
Glad your on board with more COVID restrictions then
** You’re
Great response @4:01!