NRA to roll out more crossings in George Town
(CNS): In the interest of public safety, the National Roads Authority is constructing several new crosswalks in George Town and has already developed a school zone along Northwest Point Road in West Bay. The additional crosswalks will be installed on North Sound Road near A.L. Thompson and the Humane Society, Goring Avenue by Citrus Grove, and Owen Roberts Drive near the CIAA building. There are also two new crosswalks in the new school zone by Wesleyan and Grace Christian Academy.
NRA officials said the school zone will give drivers more time to be mindful of their surroundings and stop if necessary, creating a safer environment for the students. The speed limit inside a school zone is 15mph when the flashing sign is on at the start and finish of the school day.
Motorists and pedestrians are asked to pay attention to all crosswalks and are reminded to come to a complete stop when a pedestrian is approaching them and wait until they have fully crossed to the other side of the street. Drivers should not chase pedestrians across at the halfway point. Pedestrians are also reminded to stop, look and listen to oncoming traffic before attempting to use a crosswalk.
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Category: Local News
crossings are definitely needed, but I question the logic of making them zebra crossings where pedestrians have instant priority.
it would make far more sense for these to signalled crossings that can only be triggered once per minute and are sequenced to other crossings and junctions nearby.
you get traffic flow improvement and pedestrian safety in one package.
wait. that would require a bit of intelligence in the planning phase, wouldn’t it?
NRA. Could you please find another road out of industrial? No one seems to give a damn about this area with ONE road in and out. What happened to the road Gazette from the bypass to the airport?? Both circles at Parkers and
Butterfield are a nightmare!
Blow up the NRA and start over again. make it a department of transportation with less power.
So, the NRA “experts” decide to place a crosswalk about 5-6 car lengths from the Butterfield roundabout (near A.L. Thompson’s)!!
What a clusterf**k to come for all traffic heading south at that roundabout and exiting North Sound Road when pedestrians are crossing!!
Who are these “brains” we pay big salaries to??
Morons in charge!!
agree
Why aren’t NRA finishing off the roads they started to build and widen? Before creating new projects….I am sure these unfinished building sites are more of a health/safety risk. Why don’t they just reduce the speed limit…its speed that kills!
Typical backwards knee-jerk reaction! Not a solution!!
Morons in charge from top to toe!
NRA “experts” – PLEASE DO NOT put the button for pedestrians to press immediately next to the crosswalk. PLEASE put it farther away from the crosswalk than all the other crossings which exist.
Human nature is to “press and walk”. Drivers and cars CANNOT stop in an instant. I’ve seen pedestrians press and immediately walk onto the crosswalk and cars don’t have time to stop.
The simple solution is to put the button quite a few steps away from the walkway.
Common sense is not so common these days!!
Common sense – you would have 2 buttons – one to each side of the crossing – rather than one at the crossing – because “human nature is to press and walk@? As opposed to pressing and walking 5 more paces then crossing per your suggestion , because that would make all the difference?
Or maybe, just maybe, we could expect people with half a brain to press and wait for a signal before crossing? Like they do in every other country? You are right about common sense not being common in Cayman – certainly you don’t have any.
Thank you for adding these crosswalks. It is very difficult to add pedestrian safety measures in our older districts, but so badly needed as our island grows. I am hopeful such improvements will be considered for future road improvement projects. I feel much safer in GT as a cyclist and pedestrian with these installed!
Which NRA employee is making these decisions? The one who mowed down and killed a cyclist with his Miata?
Why on south sound road on a recently completed house does their landscaping extend to the road, past their wall yet the neighbours have a sidewalk in front of theirs? How does that get approved, then accepted?
Millions of dollars on the boardwalk, sidewalks in front of some homes, yet one you have to walk on the road.
It’s not landscaping, it’s a car crash setback. The idea is that cars normally magnetically attracted to poles, will hit soft trees, rocks, and grass, thus making it a pleasant experience for everyone.
Plus, if there’s no pavement, there’s no pedestrians. Smart eh!
No more pedestrian crossings on North and South Church St, but we need traffic wardens to supervise the ones near the harbour.The cruise sheep cross in a constant flow of twos and threes holding traffic up almost indefinitely and the majority these days seem to be from Carnival ships who spend nothing ashore, and stroll around window gazing.
Please stop people parking on the sidewalk particularly taxis. How on earth can wheelchair people get past at the infamous Balboa Beach .
And the dive shop owners at the Atlantis building.
Ignoramus!!
What we need is pedestrian crossings where the pedestrian presses a button and waits until the ‘green man’ signal before crossing. Pedestrians are then given 20 seconds or so to cross the road before traffic then gets their turn to move again. What we unfortunately have are crossings where pedestrians press a button then immediately cross. This leads to the situation you describe where multiple small groups stroll casually to the crossing and traffic has to wait. The perfect example of this is the crossing outside the Government Admin building, which causes traffic chaos as government workers arrive/depart in small groups. The system I describe works perfectly well in the UK, the US etc. I don’t understand why Cayman decided to use a different system.
And usually while using a mobile phone.
Because they bought the crossing system from someone who knew someone rather than knowing anything about pedestrian crossings?
Why are there 2 lighted crossings within 10 feet of eacb other by Casanova’s? Can’t people walk 10 feet? Meanwhile the crossing by Dairy Queen has no lights.
Absolutely agree with this comment. The crossing lights are ridiculous and I don’t think people know if they’re flashing or not as the lights face the drivers, not the pedestrian. So for all they know they’re not flashing – and they just step out.
Maybe at the same time they can remove one or two of the stupid crossings they have at the North Church/Mary Street junction too. Who’s idea was that? And maybe Dart can do the same thing with crossings in Camana Bay that end up with vehicles stuck out half way across the road because some idiot has decided to just saunter across when there’s a car turning the corner.
They are pedestrian crossings, not light controlled crossings. The only reason they have flashing lights is because the standard of driving is so bad. You are required to stop for a pedestrian on the crossing, the lights are an added safety feature, but they aren’t light controlled crossings where you would push a button, wait for the traffic lights to change to red, then cross.
The Dancing Policeman actually suggested the crossings at Mary Street/North Church Street!
As a pedestrian & a driver I find the ones at the top of Mary Street to work quite well.
As a pedestrian & a driver I find the ones at the top of Mary Street to work quite well.
How about ticketing the taxis that constantly stop in the middle of the crosswalks…………
Absolutely ridiculous and incredibly dangerous that the crossings lights start as soon as you press the button. Should be on a timer, at least 20s seconds wait, like any developed country (eg. US or UK), so tehya re safe – people just cross as soon as they get tot he crossing as you press it and the lights flash, risking their life if a car is approaching. Complete madness, whoever designed these in cayman is completely unfit for any form of road related employment.
Absolutely agree with this comment. The crossing lights are ridiculous and I don’t think people know if they’re flashing or not as the lights face the drivers, not the pedestrian. So for all they know they’re not flashing – and they just step out.
Maybe at the same time they can remove one or two of the stupid crossings they have at the North Church/Mary Street junction too. Who’s idea was that? And maybe Dart can do the same thing with crossings in Camana Bay that end up with vehicles stuck out half way across the road because some idiot has decided to just saunter across when there’s a car turning the corner.
Also on this, the crosssing area needs better lighting, most crossings are dark and hard to see at night until you are on top of them and the lights start to flash as you drive through!
Drivers are supposed to be alert, prepared to stop, at any time for anything, esp in a 25mph zone.
and driver’s are not supposed to drive while drunk. How’s that working out????
I particularly love the one which the public buses park on each and every day to pick up the St Matthew’s students. Nothing dangerous about that.
NW Point is a speedway with hardly any sidewalks- having 2 speedbumps and no sidewalk doesn’t make much sense. It’s like you’re safe to cross the street but have no safe place to walk along the road… But, since when do we have common sense here anyways?
Can we have some consistency in their design. Some do not have stripes such as the ones at the library and some on West Bay Road.
That reminds me the parking space immediately before the
crossing between the library and Heroes Square needs to be removed as motorists cannot see those persons about to cross the road. This is an accident waiting to happen.
Forgot to add that several crossings have neither warnings nor lights. As I said there is no consistency.
Any driver getting off a plane from anywhere in the world can recognise what a crossing is if they are painted with stripes.
bruh this will make traffic worse, yes we need cross walks but make them over passes and gated. smh. make them go over the traffic not through it. we do enough stopping as it is. now to add more cross walks. this place is amazing.
Every commercial building, plaza or condo should be required to have an overpass to accommodate pedestrians before being granted planning approval and that cost should go to the developer.
One of the crosswalks in West bay is bloody useless as there is a wall right at the end of the crosswalk…it needs a ladder or steps build in!!
Bloody ridiculous
What about Shamrock Road in front of Hurleys? I can see accidents happening when Aura and Indigo are completed.
a cross walk? on a bypass?
for 7 lanes
You are a special kind of stupid if you think pedestrian crossings are a good idea there. You must work for the NRA.
Not a cross walk but definitely a pedestrian bridge.
Crosswalks across a 4 lane road?? Whose idea is this? I guess the same one who decided to play a game by Casanovas. Also, why do we have crossings at the end of roads? I believe pedestrians have the right of way here anyway and it makes it hard for cars to see out when in theory you shouldn’t be stopping on a crosswalk.
It might be a good idea to stop people actually parking on the crossing too – in fact, not stopping right be them even, put a space with zig zag lines like in the UK. That way you won’t run the risk of killing someone stepping out from behind the vehicle.
That won’t make a difference. It’s already illegal to park on or within a certain distance of crosswalks but that rule is clearly regularly broken and rarely enforced.
Many of the crosswalks used to have red raised reflectors on either side a few feet away which indicated the point at which any closer to the crosswalk and you’d get a ticket. However many never had these and many that did lost them over the years (perhaps just wear and tear, or maybe quietly done on purpose).
Either way, I was once shadowing a well known GT beat cop here as a teenager who let a guy go who had a tag that expired that January (it was now just before Christmas – 11 months later) because of “Christmas spirit” – as long as he renewed it the following month, didn’t write up the local plate car just behind it which was parked 3/4 of way over the red reflectors, and instead ticketed the rental car parked just behind him (which still wasn’t quite on the crosswalk).
Clearly the poor tourist didn’t know they had broken a rule as every other crosswalk on both sides had cars right up against the walk itself but clearly the cop couldn’t let everyone off and still make his quota, so felt the need to target a tourist (who was genuinely apologetic and graciously accepted the ticket).
In case you are wondering this was at the crosswalk just before Paradise heading towards South Sound. I believe it still has reflectors.
would be good if part of an overall traffic plan…but this is just nra doing ad-hoc stuff to keep busy….
traffic chaos will continue to get worse.
As long as we do not have proper transport service and more cars are allowed in then we will have issues with traffic. I am sure NRA does not decide where these crossings are put down but instead they take their orders from higher up. Road users have a responsibility too.
good idea…but the way they start the minute you press the button is a recipe for disaster…no stopping time for cars if people walk out without looking…which i see regularly.
Reward this person, please.
NRA can’t figure this one out yet…
The crossings are pedestrian crossing, not light controlled crossings. This means you must stop even if they don’t press the button. The lights are an added safety feature for all the brain dead drivers to get off their phones and pay attention. The requirement is for you to anticipate that pedestrians might use the crossing, and for pedestrians to give cars enough time to stop…nothing to do with the lights.
Sometimes that’s easier said than done, especially at night. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but street lighting is abysmal here, and people seem to love driving with full beam headlights. That makes spotting pedestrians quite tricky. Clearly nobody wants to hit a pedestrian but the current crossing don’t help the NRA could help to cut the risks of this happening by installing timed crossings and effective street lighting. I wonder who signed the contract for all the ineffective crossings we seem to have purchased…..
Need more footpaths
Crosswalks for nobody and to nowhere. When will the NRA build the bike lane infrastructure we paid for under their plan from 2015? Sidewalks? Lighting? The NRA paved the western side West Bay Road, and left the rest. Finish something.
As soon as the developers are charged an infrastructure fee on all new development.
We were invoiced, it was budgeted, and then paid out…where are they?