Safety concerns as drivers dodge rush hour jams
(CNS): The National Roads Authority (NRA) is asking drivers on Grand Cayman, especially in the Savannah and Newlands area, to prioritise safety. Officials said they were “deeply concerned” about drivers trying to beat the commuter traffic jams with unsafe misuse of lanes that puts children at risk. The NRA is also asking pedestrians and cyclists to avoid the eastbound lanes of the Linford Pierson Highway as the construction there continues.
“Recent incidents have revealed a worrying trend where some motorists use the left lane to circumvent traffic on Rex Crighton Drive, leading onto Hirst Road,” the NRA said about drivers commuting from the Eastern Districts. “This behaviour not only disrupts the flow of traffic but also poses a significant safety risk to everyone in the area.”
As a result, the traffic police unit has been informed and is monitoring the area. Motorists who disregard safety and engage in reckless driving practices will face legal consequences.
The NRA urged motorists to be more thoughtful and work to create a safer, more respectful and secure driving environment for all residents and, most crucially, for the children in this area. “We urge everyone to be responsible, kind and vigilant,” the NRA said.
Meanwhile, with the partial completion of the new eastbound lane on the Linford Pearson Highway, drivers there are also asked to take extra care because construction is still underway to complete these lanes.
“We want to remind everyone to exercise extreme caution when travelling through this construction zone,” said NRA Director Edward Howard. “Safety is our top priority. “We are urging motorists to be extra vigilant and reduce their speed when passing through this construction zone. The temporary eastbound lane may be narrow, and we want everyone to stay safe.”
Cyclists and pedestrians are urged to take an alternative route during this construction phase.
“We encourage cyclists and pedestrians to use Agnes Way as a detour instead of utilising the temporary eastbound lane. Agnes Way provides a safer and more accessible route for cyclists and pedestrians until the construction project is completed,” the NRA stated in a release.
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Category: Local News
Why do they encourage cyclists and pedestrians to drive on a highway instead of using the safer option on Crewe Rd? I thought they made the bypasses for a reason for car traffic and they can make Crewe Road and all the coastal roads more walkable and easy to cycle away from the bypasses. Stop encouraging people to die and take unsafe routes. If you want it to be a boulevard or street don’t call it a highway and make it look more appealing to pedestrians. It is a highway that is focused around cars so don’t welcome pedestrians and cyclists to use it unless it’s their last option.
https://www.caymancompass.com/2022/07/25/editorial-if-building-roads-cant-resolve-the-traffic-problem-long-term-why-is-it-the-only-concrete-proposal-on-the-table/
https://www.caymancompass.com/2022/05/31/think-traffic-is-bad-now-imagine-rush-hour-2036/
Don’t allow large trucks, or slow backhoes etc..in the right hand lane, left lane only.
Start ticketing people driving 20 miles per Hr on the highway! that will solve a big part of the traffic problem. You can literally watch as the traffic builds in the morning with poor poor driving to mostly blame.
No one stops at a stop sign here- and if you do stop… the person behind you starts beeeeepppping ………… whats the rush people ???
and people then perform a full stop at an empty roundabout, the biggest offender of being rear ended.
All Jamaicans should be made to take a uk standard theory and practical driving test, as we follow the uk Highway Code. Would eliminate thousands of bad drivers from the roads immediately.
Not just the Jamaicans – you think everyone else is following the UK Highway Code lol.
Let’s just Eliminate all Jamaicans in Cayman, that would solve thousands of problems….Including Kenny Mac Seymour and Saunders who would be out of their overpaid jobs.
The lack of indicating at roundabouts, using the wrong lane, and indicating right when going straight on is what drives me mad.
Someone disagrees with this statement. Muppet.
Jamaicans, Stop bringing/letting them in
Fair comment, Adolf.
Racist… Display your data to support your opinion.
Data..you need Data..? Go out side .
Just check who are the drug dealers, thieves, gunmen, baby daddies, bad drivers, and residents of Northward.
Don’t tell me they’re Caymanian just because they were born here . Tell me who fathered them.
17 out of 147 inmates are jamaican.
seriously? You can see the Jamaican flags in all their cars as they go by you dangerously.
Bike and pedestrian lanes should be separated from traffic with hardscaping, bollards, or road-mounted armadillos. Language and painted lines alone won’t do it. There is a whole planet of professionals that plan and execute road plans for urban transport needs. Why not hire someone that knows what they are doing for once?
Bike lanes and walkways separated from traveling lanes by hardscaping and bollards require land acquisition – some roadways do not have sufficient right-of-way to accommodate what is there; land acquisition for widening does not come cheap and may require utility relocation. How difficult is it for drivers to respect the speed limit and pay attention to other road users beside another car – it would appear that this is difficult. Slow down and pay attention, Grand Cayman is only 76 square miles. In many other jurisdictions, many of the current drivers on our roads would never qualify for a drivers’ license
You mean kind of like EIA people that Govt decides they don’t need because they know best, those kind of people ?
Because CIG/Populace won’t admit that they are in no respect capable to govern itself – hence a third world government, and its serious ramifications.
That means more expats.
If all the drivers could slow down to reflect the pace NRA build their roads, it would be much safer. It would also mean it takes about 3 weeks to get to work each morning.
It’s always the strangest thing when I see a Honda Fit rushing my ass end just to end up 2 cars ahead of me like we’re not in the same traffic jam.
They can’t help themselves. They just can’t.
You forgot that the Fit driver is wearing a neon lime yellow or neon orange shirt.
It is so sad that the NRA had to add all of the stanchions around the Camana Bay roundabout, talk about moving to the lowest common denominator. Get bad drivers off the road instead of forcing others into these non sensical traffic patterns.
Let’s just see what a gong show it is trying to go left out of CIS across the new airport bypass road, another brilliant planning move.
Idk, being in the correct lane to exit safely isn’t nonsensical.
We wont have to worry about it- that road will never get completed. How long has it been ready for paving, and still nothing. That road could have been opened for 2 months now.
Would have prevented the idiot who wrote my car off speeding around the outside lane to get to Camana Bay when I was exiting the roundabout to go north.
I saw this up at the Queen’s highway the other day and just about lost my mind. That stretch of road has to be the least-used “main” road in Grand Cayman. What in God’s name are they doing there??
As for Grand Harbour, if I see another person pull out of Hurley’s with traffic still in the roundabout and slowly creep their way across 3 lanes I’m also going to lose it. Put 1 RCIPS officer there and write a $300 ticket for anyone who does it.
I live there and every day wait patiently for ALL THREE lanes to be clear and then I go. Sometimes have to wait a little longer. If it’s rush hour and too crazy to be safe then I go down one more roundabout and come back. Someone is going to get killed because half the people want to break the rules and RCIPS enforces ZERO traffic rules
Your Red Bay MP had something to do with lobbying to leave the dangerous situation as it is 🤡
Worse for a cyclist coming out of Grand Harbour to go to town. I can’t use that roundabout as it is too dangerous. I have to go down to the next one and cycle back up.
Yes! It is insane that cops aren’t posted at that roundabout! They should also be at godfrey-nixon way and eastern ave stop light. Every idiot runs the red light, add that to the fact no one can exit the rubis there without causing a traffic jam because they cross double lines and block the flow.
Police should be posted at the major roundabouts at rush hour, and just ticket everyone stationary on the roundabout blocking the entrance lanes.
Butterfield roundabout by ALT is a classic example, as people head from industrial to Godfrey Nixon, block the 90% of traffic trying to head straight down the bypass.
Put stop signs on Hirst Road at the bypass until you build your roundabout. This is common sense NRA. Get your act together.
stop signs are there?
The stop sign is at the end of the bypass. There is no stop sign going towards Countryside. There is also no stop sign heading into Newlands.
This creates unbearable traffic and dangerous conditions.
Traffic lights or Police directing traffic. They should make the by-pass priority over Hirst Road.
Not the point of the article or discussion but out of interest, what’s happening with the roundabout change at Grand Harbour/Hurley’s roundabout?
They need to get the road by kings sorted then block the hurleys exit that way.
free money making solution:
bring in private run traffic police who are funded by fines.
cig will makes 10x times as much on fines.
police can then do real work or we can reduce their numbers.
win-win-win.
if only there was some way to deter people from driving like monsters and using illegal maneuvers? what could that be??? oh wait… ANY police presence on the road may help? maybe?
Uh duh!!
Can we get RCIPS on road patrolling these times and not in Welly’s parking lot playing numbers
They need police parked in the centre lane outside Red Bay Primary every morning. People fly down that middle lane to skip traffic and then turn left opposite Red Bay Primary entrance. All this does is make traffic worse. School buses are also a big culprit.
Not all 400+ cops mind you, just one would be helpful.
So many quick and simple solutions that the CIG are too lazy to bother with. They’d rather we suffer than actually do something of use.
I am going to say it and I dont care who doesnt like it. We have too many Jamaicans who purchased their licence on the road. I mean really clueless and don’t know how to operate a car. I was almost run off the road by an idiot in a Honda fit yesterday and when I hit my horn she simply, cut her eye and kept on driving. Oblivious to her stupidity. she came off one roundabout and onto the ETH and crossed two lanes including mine without a signal or check to see if the way was clear and cut me off. I had to hit my brakes to avoid writing her off. We need to stop acceptig drivers licenses from Jamaica.
Had same, could be same one.
i have to totally agree with you, most of these issues are caused by jamaican drivers, who think they can drive better than anyone else in the world just because they have mountains in Jamaica( ive literally heard Jamaicans say this)like this makes them better drivers!. lol I live down newlands and i see these idiots making these u-turns by the horse pen and further up the road. the gov needs to put up proper barriers or pay for land owners to put up fences by the road side
While I agree with most of what you said, what is the alternative to not accepting Jamaican licenses? Have them do the test down here? Cayman’s driving test is a JOKE. Might as well just pay for a license here too; not just Jamaicans that can’t drive.
Yea… it’s always the Jamaicans; never the Caymanians (who actually are Jamaicains).
You are absolutely correct! Then there are the ones driving big dump trucks at high speed down narrow roads in residential areas! Someone is going to get hurt or killed.
Are any of these inconsiderate drivers construction workers in Hondas? Asking for a friend.
How is the Public Transportation project coming along?
The roundabout by Prospect Primary is still not repainted. The approach signs still not altered.
The mini roundabout near Napa, total cluster. Once busy, the vast majority of cars ignore the direction to head towards the traffic lights only, but just turn left at an odd angle to get get in front of traffic doing the right thing. This traffic is then made worse with the idiots then cutting back in.
Rex Crichton Blvd is already a danger zone of right lane warriors when heading east.
The junction by Fern Circle with the oddest of priorities. “Let’s make the vast majority of vehicles have to stop, look both ways, wait for cars not indicating to turn, then proceed. This will increase pollution, both sound and emissions, to all local residents. Great, let’s keep it”.
Road works? let’s put traffic cones and a sign up at around 10ft from said works.
The stupidity never ends.
I have been having nightmares with those yellow or orange cones from Newlands into George Town. Good lord.And they are more accident prone.And every day a new set is put out. Wonder if I can go into the cone business.
maybe check with the ice ream purveyors to see what the demand is..
If the NRA is concerned about drivers finding alternative routes to beat traffic, then the NRA should STOP all the stall tactics with the EWA EIA, complete the EIA, and build the damn EWA.
Stop blaming motorists for your lack of action on building the EWA. That goes for both the previous Minister Joey and the current Minister Jay
So you can get to the traffic jams quicker, right, got it
The EWA would do nothing to alleviate traffic. That’s not what it’s ever been about
Friends and Family Programme left over from UDP and PPM.
And Ezzard, who just happens to have a large tract of currently inaccessible land around those parts.
Can Govt create a countdown list kind of like ‘shopping days left until Christmas’ but census configuration so we have something to look forward to when the population hits 100,000 ? 🎅🏽🥂
We probably already at 100,000 and don’t even know it.
bummer, that would be an anti-climax 🙁
that can’t be right. we didn’t get fireworks or anything.
The same NRA that built road with a light pole in the middle of it?
Illuminating!
How do you know that it wasn’t put up properly elsewhere, and like many are prone to doing, it just moved suddenly?
Great point. Fortunately it didn’t do it at night to a drunk driver. This light pole is a clever one.
Just like the barrier at the northbound ETH Cost-U-Less roundabout. Someone slammed into it nice and good on Friday night. The road cones were still there from when they replaced it the week before.
50% of the population could probably work from home. It worked during the pandemic, why have we gone back to traffic jams and increased carbon emissions when we did not need to?
Because our leaders and decision makers are absolutely all numb nuts. If they gave companies incentives to allow some of their staff to work from home, then we wouldn’t need all the new roads which by the way are more expensive to install and maintain. Saving the environment and lessens the traffic jams.
Just out of curiosity, what “incentives” can they give companies? A tax break?
What incentive must the gov’t give companies to have their staff WFH? Isn’t downsizing office space and saving crap tons in rent incentive enough?
Because there is little trust in management.
I need to boss around some pawns in person
True, but that question needs to be asked by Government and directed at the business owners who demand their staff returned to the office.
Captain obviuos here.
Because human nature is such that people won’t work hard unless they are being supervised.
I work from home unsupervised, but I am subject to performance reviews. I am more productive at home, no idle chit chat and no unnecessary meetings just to pass time. Work from home does work, but not for everyone.
Simply not true. I work for an employer where ALL my profession work from home even before the pandemic, and our profits continue to rise.
especially in Govt. 80% of them not working anyways.
Half of the population is already crazy. Working from home would be detrimental to mental health of people. We’re social beings.
If they had sorted out the Grand Harbour clusterfark instead of widening the Queens Highway, we wouldn’t need to be concerned about this.
I went on QHwy Sunday for the first time in a while and was absolutely dumbfounded at the widening. Never in my life have I been able to see 3 cars travelling on that stretch of road at the same time.
If NRA needs things to do I’d suggest they get some of their traffic control people at the top of Will T drive every weekday morning 6-8am. That 2 hours of directing traffic would be more beneficial than what they trying to do on QHwy
The Queen’s Highway project isn’t NRA, that’s a private contractor handling minister’s business.
Yes, part of the FFP (Family & Friends Programme).
I love the NRA asking us to do them a favor. How about they plan and build the roads properly and faster and police enforce the traffic laws.