Baby and father killed after crashing into wall
(CNS): A 32-year-old man and his one-year-old daughter were killed Sunday evening in what CNS understands was a high-speed collision on West Church Street in West Bay. The single-vehicle crash happened at around 7pm on 3 April when the driver crashed his Honda Accord into a wall near the junction of Henning Lane.
The man and the baby were removed from the car by crews from the Cayman Islands Fire Service (CIFS) and rushed to hospital by ambulance, but they were both pronounced dead on arrival by the attending doctor.
Police and CIFS officers were still on scene around 8am Monday, where the road was closed between the four-way junction and Henning Lane. The public is asked to avoid the area and use Town Hall Road or Willie Farrington Drive.
The father and his daughter, who were residents of West Bay, are the sixth and seventh victims of collisions on Cayman roads already this year. Just over three months into 2022, it is turning out to be one of the worst years yet on local roads following a run of bad years for crashes.
The RCIPS recently created a second traffic unit and it plans to invest more resources into policing the roads in an effort to address poor driver behaviour, including driving while drunk and speeding, which are the cause of many serious accidents.
The RCIPS thanked the public for their cooperation with the diversion in relation to this collision and apologised for any inconvenience caused.
Investigators are encouraging anyone with information to call the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit at 649-6254 or the West Bay Police Station at 949-3999.
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Category: Local News
Comments tho wow!!! RIP Garth RIP to your little princess my sincere condolences to the family at this time. Rest well bro💜
My deepest condolences to the family on this unspeakably tragic loss.
I note with much interest and perhaps alarm that, if one views the aerial mapping graphic of the area of the accident as depicted in the government CaymanLandInfo mapping website, it would appear that the section of wall into which the car collided is built over the boundary line of the Crown (government) property. I shall insert this disclaimer here: that the boundaries superimposed over the aerial map may suffer from some imprecision due to perspective error. However, it would appear that the section of wall likely does encroach over into Crown land.
In any case the wall is built too close to the pavement of the road according to UK public road standards. There is a boundary plan (BP012)indicating that this section of South Church Street should at some point be fully surveyed and gazetted as a public road. This would put the government right-of-Way well beyond the wall; however, this does not appear to have been completed as many parts of West Church Street (as currently paved) apparently meander well outside of the Boundary Plan. I have noted with much alarm countless instances of such encroachments on Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac, cases where the government allows dangerous and potentially deadly hard obstructions such as walls and even parts of buildings to exist and remain on a Crown land road reserve. One can clearly see this on land where the boundary beacons denote a boundary line well inward of the obstruction. I note with dismay that in many cases when walls or other hard structures are involved in an encroachment, you will see ding marks and scrapes that are apparently from vehicles hitting the obstruction but not in a way to cause significant damage. However, any one of these hard structure obstructions could be a deadly one.
If an obstruction over Crown land is the case here, government is partly to blame for the accident and deaths as they should not allow any private structures to encroach on Crown Land, especially a road reserve. In addition, there should be Government/NRA safety standards disallowing walls and fences etc to be built too close to the edge of the pavement.
Before any more lives are lost, the government should immediately begin the process of identifying encroaching obstructions and give notice to the proprietor to remove the obstruction or government will remove it at their expense. Then impose a restriction registered against title that the property cannot be sold or otherwise have dealings until the restriction is removed by the debt being paid.
The safety of the driving public and preventing needless roadway deaths are serious responsibilities of our government and the NRA. They need to get on the move!
Obviously the lanes throughout WB and GT were designed when people traveled via conveyances that cruised at 10mph. Now we are full of vehicles designed to travel great distances all day at 90mph. Developers would have us raze all structures in the way of creating multi-lane speedways and permanently destroy nature for pickle ball courts. This struggle will continue between safety and individual freedom to drive big fast vehicles and live as though we are Miami.
In the early hours of Monday morning, I went to the ATM at Centennial Towers and was diverted because of this accident and when I took a brief glipse, it looked horrific.
It wasn’t until reading this story in CNS, I realised I had actually seen the site where 2 precious lives came to an end. I do not know who they were or any of their families, but all I can say from my heart is I pray the power, grace and peace of the Lord God our Creator be with you all even more than it is today, yesterday and tomorrow.
I had to stop reading the comments here because they will only create hate, anger and division and God forbid any of the families of the deceased read them at a time of shock, loss and morning, it’s not what I want them to remember about our community, we are way better than that.
Hopefully, the police in their investigation will comb through some of the over zealous comments or CSI wannabe’s, but whatever is done, let it be from a place of compassion and respect. Save for the grace of God go I.
Part of living with the Caymanian/Jamacian culture. It will not change in our lifetime.
It damn well needs to change, and I deny it is part of Caymanian culture. It is not acceptable, and we should not accept it! We can stamp it out easily. We just need to enforce our laws.
Cayman culture IS Jamaican culture
You are uneducatedly wrong!
2:55 All your Radio Stations play, is Jamaica music
All the cooks in the restaurants are Jamaicans
All the Auto mechanics and electricians are Jamaicans
All the Barbers are Jamaicans
ALL The Builders and Hospitals workers are Jamaicans and the list goes on, that’s culture.
Now yours! ( I am Caymanian )
Jamaicans are more dependable workers than Caymanians…. Why?
Many Camanians don’t want to work. The poor upbringing of them when they are young is the main cause.
Not for us with no Jamaican family or spouse
And even those that do recognize the difference. Jamaican Culture is entirely distinct from Caymanian culture.
True! Jamaicans are much more considerate than most Caymanians. I wonder why..?
When Caymanians become smarter then Jamaicans we will see a drop in the imports of Jamaicans
“Culture” is used to excuse all sorts of horrible things including racism, homophobia, misogyny. It can change; it has changed; hopefully, it will change for the betterment of our community.
btw, are child seats required by law?
Very much doubt the child was in an appropriate child seat / restraint. So very sad. But … POLICE why are you not stopping cars that don’t transport their children in appropriate safety seats???? We need zero tolerance on the roads. And CCTV! Who has to die before politicians actually do something? Heartbreaking for that little girl.
zero tolerance for this, zero tolerance for that….what kind of country The Cayman Islands is where everything must be enforced? Certainly not a civilized 1st world country where Law and Order rule.
It looks like for every resident one cop must be assigned to enforce existing Laws and Regulations. And a watchful eye for the every Cop to make sure…
#leggewasright
P.S. today’s article on poaching made me sick, there is NO hope for these god forsaken islands.
A little while ago I was following a police car north toward the ALT roundabout and our lane crawled past a silver Honda. When I got level I saw the woman driver had a toddler, maybe 1 year old standing on her lap! There’s no way the police car missed it, just chose to ignore it.
These traffic police are incompetent
Worse. They take our money and do not do their jobs. We need to stop tolerating it and demand change. This is not brain surgery. Enforcing traffic laws is the easy part of policing.
And should be largely automated! (Even if that deprives you of the ability to let your friends/the politically connected off. )
Everyone knows that!
happens every hour of everyday….the police farce is one bad joke that is costing lives
So sad but unsurprising really – too few people use proper child seats and speeding … again.
These comments are sick. Who cares what the father’s nationality is. They both lost their lives and it’s heart breaking.
I honestly don’t care where he’s from. All that stands out in my mind is how he caused the death of his innocent child. I’m not even affected by him dying too. I’m so sorry that precious baby had her life cut so short by her father who was supposed to protect her. We have got to do better by our kids. He was just reckless and dumb to do this, especially with his child in the car with him. Absolutely no consideration for her. RIP baby girl.
Thank you for being decent about measuring tragedy by nationality. We also don’t know what happened here. We don’t necessarily know if he was speeding. Police are seeking witnesses to recreate some clue and context. The fact is, cars crumple like that in less than 25mph impacts. They are designed to do that. The humans are not, unfortunately.
Witnesses have already reported that he sped off, tyres screeching with his baby girl in the front seat
Jamaicans and Filipinos are awful drivers
You’re delusional if you think Caymanians are any better!
How can you post such a comment, you seem to have issues with Caymanian people? let me tell you something. I don’t know you nor do i care. I think its pathetic for you to say something like that, as a Caymanian i wish you well and if you have such a big problem maybe it would be better for you to return to where ever you came out from. this is OUR island. and i find alot of CAYMANIAN people drive a hell of alot better than alot of all of these foreign people.
I am a born and raised Caymanian with a Jamaican mother, so don’t tell me to go back where I came from, this is where I’m from; so as a citizen of this country, I have my right to criticize my peers all I want.
FYI If your Jamaican mother is not married to a Caymanian born father you take her nationality.
It appears 100% of the 7 fatalities on Cayman Roads have directly involved Jamaican drivers.
In general terms:
60% of the people driving are Caymanians.
10% are Filipino.
30% are Jamaican.
If you understood mathematics you would likely conclude that there is a disproportionate problem with Jamaican drivers, including in comparison to Caymanians.
12.27pm Actually our population is 60% Jamaican not Caymanian.
That needs to change. Immediately.
Good luck with that!
Many Jamaicans and Filipinos are first learning to properly drive when they come to Cayman and most use public transport back home.
RCIPS stats on accident victims by nationalities alone will show you are the delusional here.
The latter set don’t know how to drive, while the former set drive absolutely reckless!
Spot the difference?
you don’t get it. people are trying to protect innocent passengers…other dirvers…pedestrians…etc
The tragedy is not diminished by the fact that it is perceived as avoidable. We have a driving safety problem. If anyone is paying attention, we have a Jamaican driving safety problem. That problem endangers is all, and has now graduated to killing innocent small children. Call it what it is. Work towards solving it. Prevent future deaths.
The relevance of where he’s from or more importantly where he passed his test is that if CIG are ever going to do anything about this problem then they need to start insisting on proper driver training and testing. Let’s be realistic, it’s not people with European or North American driving licenses that keep wrapping themselves round trees is it? We can bury our heads in the sand and blame RCIPS if you like but quite simply nothing will ever change while we accept driving licenses you can buy for $50 and have such a pathetically easy Cayman test.
I do agree that better driver training is needed, but a drivers test will not capture your intent to drive negligently (speeding/overtaking/not wearing a seatbelt).
Better drivers testing is needed, but the issue in this case and in most cases is lack of enforcement. If nobody ever gets caught speeding or driving recklessly why would they stop.
So sad.
Two young lives snuffed out as a result of a momentary bad decision.
I loved driving fast. Fortunately for me, I survived, and nobody else was injured. This isn’t the place. Everything is just too close, too tight. Please everyone, if we have to feel the rush, save up for and buy a boat and use it in a responsible manner.
Always treasure your loved ones and keep them safe.
bless
This man was disqualified from driving too. He should not have been on the road.
And that car was a pile of junk that should not have been on the road.
Tragedy? Yes.
Avoidable? Yes.
The problem is the agression in traffic, while leaving savannah today, a gray bmw sped up to make sure i was not getting on his road.
Couldn’t really see jamaican or caymanian, but guaranteed one of them.
Problem is not the police, not the roads, not the law, but local and jamaican aggressive people.
They don’t do that when you are driving an F350 , I have noticed.
You are a XXXXX. Lower than any Caymanian or Jamaican you are talking about. A man and a child died. How dare you focus on nationality!!!??
Because by ignoring the problem, by pretending it doesn’t exist, you’ll never fix it. You’re perpetuating the problem, just like when RCIPS blame Brits because they are not familiar with 4 way stops and Americans because they can’t use roundabouts; yeah because they’re the problem!
Always placing blame on some nationality no matter the subject( covid, traffic, tourism, jobs, everything). How about just sending sincere condolences to the family and friends to start and then discussing how to make the roads safer for everyone no matter what their nationality or where they are from.
It’s not the speed that causes an injury; it’s the sudden stop.
A 160 lb person, wearing a seat belt and traveling at only 30 mph, will experience around 30 g’s of force in a front-end collision with a fixed object. That’s 2.4 tons of force acting on the body as the vehicle crumples as designed. Very memorable for those that have been in one. Not wearing a seatbelt, that force is 150g’s or 12 tons of deceleration force, often straight out the front window.
A horrific reminder to Buckle Up and Pay Attention when you’re driving anything going those speeds – even the Bird scooters!
It’s not so much the people. It’s de people dem.
2018 – 90% of people taking their practical driving test in the Cayman Islands passed first time. I would imagine that this is similar today.
2021 – 51% of people taking their practical driving test in the U.K passed the first time.
Please take note that I personally do not think the Cayman drivers are that better! The testing needs to be much tougher.
It was also reported that the Philippine’s practical test is one of the easiest and involves doing one loop of a preset driving course that only involves right turns.
Please think carefully about who you let on the roads in the Cayman Islands.
This is a great example of where proper regulation could actually provide some economic stimulation and improve public safety. It’s a no-brainer, but I sadly fear this is beyond the comprehension of the average MP. We all get the country the limited electorate votes for.
Y’all no driving test in the World, has anything to do with a Person Speeding, Careless, Reckless, DWI.
That comes after!
My heart just breaks for this innocent, sweet baby girl. Your life was taken way too soon by the reckless, poor decisions of your own father. RIP angel. I hope you didn’t endure an ounce of pain.
I am outraged at what has happened to this baby and frustrated that lawlessness is what is becoming ‘normal’ in Cayman. Pervasive reckless driving and daily armed robberies are just 2 aspects of the same issue facing Cayman – the law is not being enforced!
So what this is the attitude with everything in Cayman now. Money/greed pure and simple. Workers paying for their own work permits, employers not paying any of the labor benefits as per the law, housekeepers & domestic workers on construction sites, unlicensed “building contractors” taking on all kind of projects. There is zero enforcement and no one gives a cr%* about it as long as they get cheap prices and can live the high life.
6:46 And can do the Job!
1;37 pm, too many Jamaicans here thats the all around big problem.
This is a real sad situation. There are no words that will bring comfort to the family at this time. I only hope that over time the family can find a way to manage the pain.
No sympathy for the male driver whatsoever, such a tragic loss of an innocent toddler. Likely his life insurance won’t pay out either if he was breaking the law by speeding.
Can we just ban Jamaicans from driving here full stop, the road standards will increase drastically.
Jamaicans here are safe, as they are the ones who vote for Saunders, Seymour , Mac and Kenny..
They are a part of the agenda to transform us into another Jamaica, to be ruled by established political figures , so expect more bredren to invade our shores.
If they are voting then they are Caymanians now, irrespective of where they originated. You may not like it, but it’s a fact. And just to cheer you up even further their kids will be able to run for office as well as vote.
Ummm. Non Caymanians are being registered to vote. Just sayin.
10.43am Do you understand the qualifications to vote are not all the same as those required since 1988? Many persons are grandfathered in under the 1972 and 1984 law.
And some people who are not qualified under any law are getting through and staying on the register. Just sayin.
So report them to the Elections office.
Doesn’t help. The elections office are the ones that registered them.
May I suggest to add caymanians to that ban too ?
If they originate from Jamaica, fair enough.
Jamaican bad driving….they have taken over the roads…yet police and radar is non existent? Where are the police?
Sorry. Busy recruiting more friends from Jamaica. No time to enforce laws. Especially now there are 7.5 hour shifts. By the way, has anyone done the math on that? You now need 4 officers on duty to cover 24 hours. With days off, vacation, report writing, court attendance, parades, photo ops, sick leave etc. it is more like 9 or 10 officers needed just to fill one role. It is madness. It is bankrupting us and resulting directly in our descent into chaos. Still no traffic cameras. Still no automation. Still no meaningful and consistent enforcement. Still no accountability.
And the Governor grinned. And the Commissioner says the crime situation is stable. And Franz says the civil service is world class. And Eric raises his glass.
And now we are burying an innocent child and not one of them, for a moment, appears to sense any responsibility.
#worldclass though. The best of the best. Amazing. Incredible. Truly exceptional. A model to be emulated. A remarkable accomplishment. Unequalled and unrivaled. Unsurpassed.
It is a shitshow. People are dying. Lives and livelihoods are being destroyed. Never in the field of bad governance has so much been taken by so many, in the service of so few.
The shift system isnt the problem, we had some of the best Policing and police officers on 8 hour shifts. Problem is, when the brass are trying to stiff the workers, it becomes an internal squabble. The workers now have to police their own rights so less time spent on crime.
They need to follow the Courts and let go of the foolishness. Do the job.
Jamaican police don’t arrested Jamaicans
You don’t know. You paint with a broad brush that mostly drips the paint.
That guy was taking a photograph. No paint involved.
They are Jamaican too LOL
Maybe they should stop focusing on giving people tint tickets and focus on the dangerous drivers out there.🧐🧐
Maybe they should do both.
They’re the same people!
Ideally we would have police that would properly enforce all of our laws all the time and not choose which 1 or 2 laws to enforce (sort of) each week.
Isnt this very close to the police station? Speeding at night down that road, not smart if that was the case.
Dusk, and with a steering wheel.
Of the six fatal crashes this year where did each driver first pass their test?
Pass test, or buy license? Just want to understand the question and make sure the answer is relevant.
Ummm, in either event, the answer is Jamaica.
Great point, I bet almost all passed in cayman or Jamaica. Time to introduce European standard driving tests.
And, dare I say it, Singaporean police?
What is wrong with men – on so many levels. This one was old enough to know better. I am OK with them driving into light posts and killing themselves in single vehicle collisions. That does us all a favor by getting these idiots off the streets where they are a real danger to others. But speeding like this with your little child in the car? That is a new form of low. Perhaps this man’s dead body needs to be hung in the streets as a more stark visual reminder to the many, many idiots who drive like this every day. Nothing else seems to be working.
Traffic laws here need to go back to basics.
A) Who owns the car, and be able to prove it and find where they live and where the car is kept.
B) Who is driving the car, and be able to prove it and find where they live.
C) Is the car road legal, does it have insurance, it is properly taxed, has it passed an inspection, does the owner have a driving license, and follow up with steep fines to the registered owner when any of these things expire. Impound the car until these things are rectified.
D) does the car have proper readable plates, does the car have illegal tints? Follow up, fine the owner and take the car until these matters are rectified.
E) Is the car speeding? Use speed cameras, and employ a team to follow up with steep fines to the registered owner. The owner is responsible for a speeding car unless they can show that another person was driving at the time and that person admits it. Steep fines and the car is impounded until they are paid.
F) Is the car/driver breaking other traffic laws, driving dangerously? Steep fines for the owner and the car is impounded until they are paid.
None of this is any problem for all of the good people who drive legally and safely, but perhaps it would take people off the road who do not follow the rules and endanger others. It’s time to stop with the wishy-washy efforts and start getting strict with law-breakers for the protection of the innocent road users.
I am just SO fed up with all the near misses I see every day, and know that one day some idiot will hit me and it won’t be my fault but they’ll probably drive off, or don’t have insurance etc and I’ll not be able to afford to buy a new car, or pay my medical bills, or maybe even be seriously injured. The streets are too dangerous!
Tragic.
No car seat, no seat belt and speeding… wow
tragic.
jamican driving liscense should not be accepted here.
do what the uk done…give them a temporary liscence and then they have 12 months to pass the cayman driving test.
You may have missed the most important step that the UK has implemented. Strictly curtail the number that are allowed to come in the first place!
I agree except our test is also a joke.
Every road fatality is a tragedy to family, friends and the community. But this one is particularly tragic with the death of the baby. Not trying to “investigate” but sounds like distracted driving combined with unsafe seating may have been factors in this. May their families be comforted and may they RIP.
Meanwhile the grim scoreboard is:
Young Jamaican Men – 6 / Solid Roadside Objects – 0
Yup. About corresponds with the ratios of those involved with armed robberies too. Our fanciful law enforcers, acting woke, dare not admit some core facts. Much of what ails us is imported. Responsibility is partly with WORC and Border Control. Meanwhile Cayman is being destroyed. Carry on.
11.52am WORC etc can’t do anything whilst the law provides “Right to work” immediately after the marriage of convenience. Law needs changing and Marriage officers need to be held acoountable.
Time to clamp down on letting in anymore jamaicans, period. There are the chief problem in these Islands facts are facts PACT do something ASAP
What would happen if CIG spent half as much time and money on road safety as it does on useless Covid measures? Every single day I see at least one car doing double the speed limit with no fear of being caught by the police.
Why aren’t road deaths reported like Covid deaths? How many road deaths since December 2019?
It’s pretty easy to find this out. Every news outlet reports total road fatalities for that year every time a new one happens.
Senseless tragedy. Were the late baby properly secured in infant safety seat in the back of the car and father properly buckled up? In the US this Information is always released after the fatal accidents.
Seatbelts are important. Condolences to the family.
Not even in a car seat. Why is that okay here? Absolutely ridiculous. Stop speeding too. Cops need to get the dangerous drivers off the road.
The article is silent about that
What is it with people transporting their children in the front seat on their laps or letting them play in the backseat with not even a seatbelt on? This may be normal in 3rd world countries but coming from Canada, it’s appalling to me how reckless people are with the safety of their own children.
In case you missed noticing, you are in a 3rd world country.
12:27 pm: read the post again. That is what the person was implying—we are a third works country, unlike Canada where the police enforce car seats for babies and seat belts and booster seats for older children.
No. We are a first world country. It is our police, immigration controls, and civil service, that are third world in nature.
CIG should put up signs all over the island reminding folks to buckle up and use car seats. Maybe where all the booster signs are placed now. These senseless deaths are so sad to see.
We are a 3rd world country, what makes you think otherwise?
⁷5:15 pm, jamaicans made these Islands third world.
5:15pm, why are Jamaicans blamed for everything? Is it because most of them actually work? Or is it because most are sooo progressive? Envy and grudgeful won’t change that. You need a little grace in your life.
Not really,
While having first world rules and regulations, we have third world quality of enforcement of the above , there is a difference!
If ever the laws and regulations on the books were getting strictly applied, our little rock would face a steep population drop , especially, god forbid if the regulations and compliance requirement regulations in place would be applied across the board (real estate, financial services, traffic laws, pollution treaties among a few choice items!)
So very sad. Another avoidable tragedy. RIP.
RCIP? Come on guys!!!!
It is not OK here. It is illegal. You can see toddlers standing on the front seats of cars weekly. Like many such things, only the police do not see it.
Illegal, yet happens FAR too often. This should be an immediate Child Cruelty charge.
The police are not everywhere. It is up to the adults ( parents) not to drive with children not in a seatbelt, not to drink & drive, not to speed. Come on- these are common sense. Stop blaming and start being responsible adults!
Where does it say there was no car seat?
Seriously you must be new here.
Yep – he’s stil relying on reported information rather than making assumptions about nationality and then attributing negative behaviour s to all members of that group with out any specific information as to the individual concerned.
8:24:
Surely you cannot be that naive. This is the Cayman Islands for Pete’s sake. There are those of us who–if we are curious enough–can know what is going to be in the police report long before the investigation is completed. Yes, there are some who assume and make generalisations, but there are those of us who may know because… solid reliable connections. By the way you have made the assumption that the person lamenting about no car seat or seat belts is not privy to specific and reliable information. Do you have specific information that this person is not relying on specific information? Hmmm…?? Now I am curious whether or not the driver was belted and if the child was in a proper car seat, soo…
pardon me, I have to make a phone call.