Speed and booze caused deadly East End crash

| 23/06/2022 | 26 Comments
Cayman News Service
Car wrecked in fatal accident, March 2016

(CNS): Chris Ollen McLaughlin (30) died as a result of misadventure, a jury found in Coroners Court Wednesday, having heard evidence that he was more than two times over the legal alcohol limit and travelling at 97mph when he crashed his car on Sea View Road in March 2016.

According to local crash reconstruction expert Collin Redden, McLaughlin lost control of his Toyota near the blowholes as he headed west from East End. Then, as he over-corrected, he went into a spin, slamming into a steel CUC pole. No other vehicle was involved in the collision, which happened in the early hours of the morning.

Chris Ollen McLaughlin

The impact was so great that the car was crushed to just 20 inches wide at the point where it wrapped around the utility post, which moved ten inches from its standing position. McLaughlin, who was disqualified from driving at the time and was not wearing a seatbelt, died from head and multiple other traumas and likely died almost on impact, the Coroners Court heard.

Redden explained that the crash was largely due to the speed McLaughlin was travelling and because his reactions were affected by the alcohol, and said this was a common factor in local road crashes. Having examined more than 5,500 crashes locally in his career, Redden said the combination of speed and alcohol was a common factor in many of them.


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Category: Local News

Comments (26)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Not a single suggestion on how if there had proper public infrastructure this problem could be severely reduced?

  2. Anonymous says:

    This is a full house in bad Cayman driving!

    * DUI
    * Disqualified
    * Speeding
    * No seatbelt used
    * No valid insurance as a result of the disqualification

    The sad thing is the number of drivers still on the road that combine one or more of these on a regular basis.

  3. Anonymous says:

    If you ever get passed on the highway on the left, you are in the wrong lane and should have your license revoked. Use the left lane

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    • Anonymous says:

      Unless you’re about to turn right… but I share your frustration. Sadly I followed an RCIPS traffic car from ALT to West Bay and he didn’t leave the right hand lane once, even though I was in it most of the way. If they can’t be bothered to abide by the Cayman Traffic code no one else is going to.

    • Anonymous says:

      24 @ 10:24 pm – On a dual carriageway (as most in Cayman are) there’s no fast or slow lanes because traffic has the ability to merge from both lanes. As opposed to a highway which has merging facilities on one side (lane), of which there are none in Cayman

      This is true especially in Cayman with “turn-off’s” on either side, from each lane.

      But..I get your frustration with drivers who drive slow simultaneously in both lanes.

  4. Anonymous says:

    What is astonishing is the local drivers cant make the correlation between what speed will do to them & their vehicle when they hit a heavy stationary object , as well as the current situation of what speed has in relation to the gasoline consumption of their cars.

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    • Anonymous says:

      24 @ 9:04 pm – driving too fast for road conditions (with or without substance assistance) and crashing into solid objects is not unique to “local” (Cayman) drivers.

    • Anonymous says:

      What’s astonishing is that you think it’s only “local drivers”

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Government could lead the way by banning alcohol in any public or statutory authority building.

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  6. Anon says:

    This took 6 years??

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  7. Elvis says:

    Is anyone really surprised at findings? Be honest?

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    • Anonymous says:

      No, or that it took our world class civil service 6 years and untold tens of thousands of dollars to make the determinations.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Incredible man, I always wonder if people who die like this had a chance to comeback what will the say in retrospect?

    RIP

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  9. Anonymous says:

    In other news, the sky is blue.

    literally every single fatal crash this year been drinking + driving?

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    • Anonymous says:

      NHTSA has published findings that 80% of deceased operators of vehicles in fatal traffic accidents were not just drunk driving, but simultaneously both drunk and high. Does the coroner’s report screen for THC and other synergistic drugs in their blood toxicology reports? The public should have full access to anonymized incident records to establish patterns of what is causing operational impairment and death in the Cayman Islands. We’re probably not too dissimilar to states like Colorado. If Cayman considers legalization of ganja, limits, testing equipment, and standards will need to be defined, or adopted from elsewhere, and Gazetted into amendments to Traffic Law and Regs.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Drop the existing legal limit. It might just change the culture of drink driving in our islands and save lives… RIP Mr. Mclaughlin and heartfelt condolences to your family.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I agree, drop it altogether. It should be a personal choice if we want to drink and drive.

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      • Anonymous says:

        it is a personal choice now tho lol
        we see how that goes

        there is also NO option for people lol

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