Two drivers critical after serious weekend smashes
(CNS): Police are appealing for witnesses to two separate serious collisions on Saturday, one involving three vehicles at the Butterfield Roundabout in George Town and the other in North Side with just one car. As a result of the crashes, two people were taken to hospital with serious injuries. One other person also received medical treatment.
The first crash happened on Saturday around 3:40pm on North Sound Road near Animal House. It involved a grey Toyota Vitz and a white Honda CR-V-EX, which also collided with a parked Kia Sorento. The female driver of the Honda was taken to hospital, where she remains in stable but critical condition. The driver of the Toyota was uninjured, while the passenger complained of pain, and sought medical attention.
A few hours later on Saturday, at about 6:10pm, a blue Mini Cooper crashed on North Side Road in the vicinity of Suncoast Road. No details were revealed but the male driver was taken to hospital, where he remians in stable but critical condition.
According to the latest statistics from the RCIPS, there has been no significant improvement in traffic smashes over the last few months. Between the beginning of the year and the end of May, there were 1,204 motor vehicle collisions reported to the RCIPS, an average of 240 per month. The month with the most crashes was April (261), followed by May (259).
Meanwhile, the new Eastern Districts Traffic Unit, which began operations at the end of March, has already dealt with 882 incidents, which include crashes, tickets for speeding and unlicensed vehicles.
The latest serious collisions are under investigation by the Traffic Unit and anyone with information or who may have witnessed them is asked to call 949-4222 or 649-6254.
Anonymous tips can also be provided directly to the RCIPS Confidential Tip Line at
949-7777, or via the website.
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Category: Local News
Driving should be privilege, not a right, particularly if you’re new to a country. There are so many people here who appear to have absolutely no clue how to drive sensibly, whilst at the same time once behind the wheel have no regard for the safety of others. Add in the death trap vehicles, flagrant drink and drug driving, lack of any strategic plan for improving the road conditions and chaotic enforcement = the deaths and collisions at such high levels. It doesn’t even really seem worth asking anymore when will the government actually take it this seriously.
Its not just foreign licence holders that are not up to a safe level of competence.
Our 17 year old had a grand total of three driving classes with a driving school here. After those three lessons he was encouraged to take his road test and passed!!
There is no doubt he does not have the ability to drive day or night but is now legally licensed to do so.
Frightening. It’s my intention to make my kids pass a UK advanced test before they get a car.
LMAO how is tht gunna help as 99% others arent and will be the issue?
Ignorant comment. Advanced/defensive driving teaches techniques and mindset to avoid people like you. Seriously what kind of person “LMAO” at someone improving their driving skills?
me “LMAO”
its funny that that isnt the full issue sooooooo yea we laugh and we move.
Duh. Think about it.
That is scary. In the uk you’d have at least 12, and your test would be on far more complicated roads than cayman, and in a manual car not automatic with things like a hill start and clutch control as part of your test, disgraceful really when you think we follow the uk driving system, and all that is before your theory test which you need 80 per cent on.
The biggest problems here for accidents and traffic, is people don’t use the left most lane on the highways, so people have to weave and tailgate, and also people don’t indicate at roundabouts correctly. Even the police indicate right when going straight on at roundabouts. It’s 3rd world at best, but having visited South America and Asia extensively, I would say caymanians drive worst than any country in the world.
Even then most people fail uk driving test (45% pass rate)
You’re deluded if you think it’s only those who are new to Cayman who are the problem.
Whilst this will inevitably turn into a load of people justifiably complaining about crap driving, here’s a couple of mine:
When at lights and turning across, although on green and needing to wait for oncoming traffic, many people just stay rooted to the line. For the love of God, move into the junction and wait. Not doing this stops several cars from moving every cycle of lights.
Vehicles with maladjusted/broken/missing/constant high beam lights. Can we round up every idiot who blinds oncoming road users and fire them in an iron ball into the sun?
Absolutely agree 100%.
So many people seem to think that once the little green arrow disappears, you can no longer turn right. Yes you can! The light is green! You do need to give way to oncoming traffic, but please, PLEASE move into the intersection so that other cars can also turn within that cycle. If you can’t do that here, you wouldn’t be able to drive anywhere else in the world as people behind you would not be as patient!
People who stay behind the line after the turning arrow disappears think they’re being safe, but they are infuriating drivers, which is never safe.
nationalites of those involved will tell you alot.
jamaican licsense should not be autmaically accepted here. it is not accepted in the uk.
Don’t think they can even get a bicycle licence in UK?
Especially as they all cycle on the wrong side of the road facing the oncoming traffic. You cycle on the left here with the traffic for those who are too stupid to understand safety.
Why would I be so stupid to let a car hit me from behind? Unless this islands drivers learn to stay in their own lane, not park to obstruct the road, and watch out for pedestrians and cyclists then absolutely I’ll ride with them in my view.
So stupid. More likely to get hit by a car looking right, pulling out, and you hitting the . You cycle on the road in the same direction as a car. What a ridiculous comment from you.
You obviously don’t cycle these roads with these idiots. The one time I went with traffic a car hit me. Wake up.
And next time you look get hit by a car pulling out from a side street.
When the vehicle drivers are so incompetent, I’ll cycle wherever the hell I feel I can keep an eye on you idiots!
Driving standards are atrocious. Enforcement is atrocious. Traffic law hasn’t yet caught up to 2022.
At least most new vehicles are now mandated to have collision avoidance technology as standard. It’s a shame it’ll be 10 years before most of that trickles into Cayman.
How in the bloody hell do you think poor people can afford new cars with that tech?
Well, some of the poor people currently driving can’t operate a seatbelt,so let’s hope they save up some cash soon so they’re not relying on their amazing driving skills too much.
So true, I’ve seen babies on people’s laps in passenger seats. Not fit to parent let alone drive.
No they aren’t, although some of active safety tech is optional, beyond ABS and reverse cameras not much else is mandated.
I’m not talking about the tat several generations behind that we import, designed for developing markets.
It’s not mandated in US or Europe either. I just imported a brand new German vehicle from the UK and it has no collision avoidance tech although it was an option. Same for the US. Where are you claiming it is mandated or standard?
No point making any suggestions, the govt has heard them all before and chosen to ignore them. Just got to wait until someone they care about dies on the road.
It is time for maladministration prosecutions to be considered. The failings of our civil service to act and resolve any issue effectively is no longer a question of lack of funding or capacity. It is a result of abject dereliction of duty. The issues have long been known and anticipated. There is literally no excuse for us to be where we now find ourselves.
While they accept joke licenses and tests to drive here nothing will change.
The solution is to revoke all local caymanian held driving licenses until they pass a uk standard theory and practical driving test,
That will quickly solve the traffic problem as only 25% of current licence holders will pass.
Like UK drivers are good? Sit down.
Time for a maths lesson:
UK has approx 19.4M people with an estimated 54% holding a licence. Let’s round up the figure for their crashes per year to 120,000. So for 10.5M licence holders they average 329 crashes per day
Here in Cayman let’s say we have the same percentage of licence holders even though it’s realistically like 65%.
So 54% of 60K people is 32,400 licence holders.
Say with an average of 240 crashes per month there is 8 crashes per day.
So if we scale up crashes in Cayman to equal licence holders in UK there would be 2585 crashes
You appear to have shot from the hip, and missed!
CNS: The population of the UK is about 68.5M.
Is should have read 19.4M licence holders (GB) figures are still correct otherwise
No they are not. Let’s assume it’s 19.4 million licence holders. Then to scale up the crash rate 19.4m/32.4K. X 8 = 4790. And that’s before you deal with the fact that 19.4 m of 68.5m is not 54%, or explain how you reduce the number of licence holders to 10.5m. You basically got the direction of travel right – accident rate far worse here – but your numbers are just wrong and trying to pretend that they were right just reduces your credibility and the value of the point.
BTW there is an apples and oranges problem as well – UK regulations mandate that people involved in an accident without injury exchange insurance details and go on their way, which is what happens the vast majority of the time. Here people often call the police even when no injury are involved, so the reported accident rates are going to be radically different.
Very wrong. UK accident stats are typically from the insurance industry so include all crashes including very minor. In fact probably more crashes as a % go unreported to anyone here in Cayman.
Thank you. He accident rate in cayman is hundreds of times higher then the us per population. The best drivers in cayman are uk originated cayman residents, as we use the uk Highway Code and road system in cayman
There are roughly 8 times more crashes per day in Cayman compared to UK. And that’s being conservative as only 54% of the UK population holds a licence.
And the UK has motorways and tiny country lanes. Cayman has no legitimate excuses for the total crap that pervades our driving and enforcement.
I hate to break it to you but after Switzerland and Scandinavia yes the UK is one of the safest countries to drive in in the world. You’re 4 times more likely to die on the roads in the US and despite much higher speeds in the UK 5 times more likely to die on the roads in Jamaica and Cayman.
Um, this isnt the UK. The country doesnt belong to enititled Brits.
It doesn’t, but you’ll rarely see us entitled Brits hanging out the side of a car that’s been fused with a tree, or a light pole.
Actually it does. It’s a dependent territory where the UK government can replace the elected government anytime they wish.
Ummm…
1. We are not a country.
2. We are British.
3. We “belong” (by the grace of God and at our choosing) to the crown.
If it did we’d have proper tests and 1/10th of the crashes. I mean christ we have great roads, great weather, painfully slow speed limits and y’all still crash 10 times more than UK drivers!
Um, yes it does
Fair point, but you don’t see us driving license holders in cayman crashing. You see Jamaicans and caymanians most of the time. And that is a fact.
Ummm, can you tell the difference between a Jamaican, a Honduran and a Caymanian?
Before or after they get status?
Many People in cayman cant drive , simple
Roundabouts are creations of the devil. Their biggest claim to fame are the auto wrecks they cause. No one in their right mind would force them on their citizens.
There are no Roundabouts in North Side….
BS. Roundabouts are fine. It is the persons using them that are the problem. If the rules are followed they allow traffic to flow smoothly.
From a motoring perspective only. Despite written pledges and budgeted funds obliging NRA to integrate solutions, our roundabouts are entirely missing provisions for pedestrians and cyclists. That’s not fine.
As a cyclist I use the roundabouts. I INDICATE using my arms to signal my intentions, as I would if I was driving. I have not had any issues with drivers allowing me to navigate safely.
Indicating at ALL times is the key whether driving or cycling.
As I pedestrian I cross the feeder roads away from a roundabout. Walking a little bit farther allows for more safety.
Hey everyone! I found one of the idiots that can’t navigate them properly. Yuno, maybe it’s time to hand in your license.
Well, that would only work for those particular about earning one of those fancy licenses to drive and remaining qualified. We should put an RFID on the license card itself to pair it with vehicles in motion. If nobody licensed is driving the car, RCIPS traffic (still very much theoretical) would know to pull it over for an arrest. Not a ticket. Not a warning.
There is no devil. The only reason for crashing at a roundabout is terminal stupidity.
The main problem here is that idiots don’t take into account an escape route when their foolishness catches up with them. As they have no plan B, plan A swings into action and that = hitting another vehicle, or inanimate object. If you doubt this, you think the tailgating drivers here are prepared to take evasive action should the vehicle in front brake?
If you can’t negotiate a round-a-bout properly then you shouldn’t be on the road driving; it involves using a n indicator and being in the correct lane. Why is that so difficult?
Same goes for people who cannot count to 3 which is all you need to do when pulling up to and negotiating a 4 way stop. You let the other 3 cars go and then its your turn……so difficult.
That’s not how stop signs work. It’s how traffic piles up at them waiting for right of way to go!
Maybe for people with inertial sensory issues and who can bare navigate a straight line. Is a circle regarded as a mark of the devil in your book?
Learn to drive, 4 way stops which are a ridiculous idea are way more dangerous. The uk has roundabouts everywhere and the crash rate in cayman is 10 times higher, caymanians do not know how to indicate at roundabouts and use the correct lane (generally.. ). That’s a fact
If you can’t figure out how to use a roundabout safely then you shouldn’t have a license.
Whilst I did not witness and cannot comment on what happened with these specific accidents, however, seeing the way people drive on this island I am surprised there aren’t more road deaths and serious collisions. We can only hope that these reckless drivers are the ones who end up dead/ in hospital and they don’t take any innocent law abiding citizens with them!
The shoes keep getting worn, there is a constant flow of people who follow one reckless driver after another.
It’s seems to be an acceptable level of casualty in Cayman.
This right here is so true. They all speed and weave in and out together. No cops so why would they stop? I am so sick of morning traffic with these idiots who make traffic worse by not just driving normal.
The only reason people weave in and out is because of the idiots that don’t know how to drive. If people kept in the left lane unless passing or turning like they are supposed to do you wouldn’t need to weave in and out. Rocket science to some, normal to those that know how to drive, which is the minority. Impose UK driving test on all – including Caymanians.
Yup. If you’re being undertaken (someone passing you on the left) and you’re not about to turn right you are in the wrong lane!
Down votes clearly from those who haven’t, or can’t, read the Cayman Road Code.
Page 20
https://www.dvdl.gov.ky/documents/Road-Code-2012-1-2021-02-25-02-10-56.pdf
I did see one – the Animal House one – which didn’t happen on the roundabout as the article suggested – unless the car actually flew through the air from it, into the Animal House car park, which I doubt. Cannot imagine how the white car got where it did, and got SO smashed up – considering it started out in the car park where you’re not exactly tearing around at breakneck speed. If anyone knows, I’d be interested to hear.
Police can give speeding an other sorts of tickets, prosecute uninsured and unregistered motorists and arrest drunk drivers until the cows come home, but until the overall mentality of many, many drivers changes, the accidents will continue.
People are in too much of a hurry. Trying to get places faster. Cutting the line. Overtaking. Speeding. Using the wrong lane to get around the roundabout. Using their phone when driving, Tail gaiting (I could go on).
Drivers have to start doing their part and realizing that the vehicle they are driving isn’t just a mode of transportation. It’s a 3000 pound (or more) weapon that can kill themselves, or others, very VERY easily.
And we all need to drive in a manner that respects that fact.
Totally agree. And nothing will change until subpar drivers get hit in the pocketbook — hard! — for breaking the law. The fines right now are ridiculous, and MP’s need to change them to hammer home the fact that this is serious and deadly business.