Police attend 139 crashes during Easter operation
(CNS): During the RCIPS Easter road safety campaign, between 22 March and 5 April, police officers attended 139 road collisions, three of which were major crashes causing the death of two drivers. Two men working on the Linford Pierson Highway were also hit by a speeding car. Chief Superintendent Brad Ebanks said that officers issued 153 speeding tickets, 14 drivers were fined for using a mobile phone while driving, and 15 were prosecuted for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Officers also ticketed 101 people for driving with excessive tint and 208 for expired registration or unlicensed vehicles. Based on figures released by police last month, there have now been almost 750 reported collisions on Cayman’s roads since the start of 2024, an average of around seven crashes per day.
Ebanks said that the RCIPS had a strong traffic enforcement presence during the holiday period but was also focused on crime. Officers also worked with communities in partnership with other agencies and regularly patrolled campsites to ensure that people were safe. A command post was set up in North Side, near the main camping areas, and was staffed round the clock over the Easter weekend. Officers also visited a number of businesses and conducted patrols in residential areas.
The police helicopter provided aerial mapping of campsites to improve patrols and response. It also provided up-to-date information along the coastlines of all three islands to support the Cayman Islands Coast Guard operations. During this time, there was one serious report of violent crime at a campsite and several reports of loud music.
Nevertheless, Ebanks said the overall activity at campsites was conducted safely by members of the public.
“We are once again thanking the public for being responsible over the course of the Easter weekend, helping to create a safe environment for everyone who engaged in camping activities and other Easter traditions,” he said “This marks another Easter where our officers have noted very few issues of concern, and this can only happen with the cooperation of the public.”
He also noted that the police had worked alongside the Public Lands Commission, the Department of Environment, the Department of Environmental Health and the National Roads Authority, who all played a part in ensuring an enjoyable, safe and environmentally responsible Easter.
“The RCIPS remained focused on areas that posed the most risk to the public,” Ebanks added.
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Are the “high”ways a problem? I believe its important to face the facts – there are too many cars and too many roads in a place where there is a great income disparity (and concomitant frustration). A moratorium on major roads may be a sensible course of action until it can be figured out how to ameliorate unnecessary and preventable trends in bad driving and accidents impacting innocent persons.
There’s no mystery here, Clouseau: no cop, no stop. Simple as that. An RCIPS ticketing patrol, with eyes open, and pen with ink, needs to be placed and expected for every mile we care about. Yes, they can move around, but there needs to be more than one deployed unit on shift for a population nearing 100,000. It also needs to be a 24/7/365 expectation adjustment.
Did these drivers not take the pledge? That would have avoided all of these accidents.
SAD! yet nothing will be done and 139 more cars will be imported by next week! and the 10,000 bad drivers will continue their rampage on Cayman roads.
The tourism industry should get involved with the epidemic of terrible and reckless driving.
Stayover tourists are well aware of the driving habits here and they will pass it on.
I do pass it on. The accident rate in Cayman is utterly mind-boggling to us here in the U.K., even in major towns and cities!
I just don’t understand why they don’t use technology more for policing the roads. Speed cameras on known road hotspots. ANPR cameras could check for expired/unlicensed vehicles. The standard of driving has really deteriorated. Bring in a points system for offences where the driver would be disqualified when reaching a certain level. The current deterrents don’t appear to be working. We had a drunk driver damage our property. He was allowed to continue driving until his case came to court. How can that be right
ANPR is good, but cannot read non-existent plates, or read ones that are shoved into the front windscreen with half not showing.
Disqualification would be great if it could be linked to offenses, like in the UK. Here, if you can afford the ticket you can do what you want.
Unfortunately with the presumption of innocence there’s not much you can do. Severe cases get fast tracked, but most drunk drivers keep driving until the court case is finished.
More Jamaicans here over the years and the driving standards have gone to shit.
That’s it ,period.
The construction industry must pay the Jamaicans like lawyers!
Plenty nice SUVs and saloons driving like their hair is on fire every single day.
Blame, blame, blame.
That’s the game.
Nothing will change while DVDL gives licenses to people who can’t drive. Given the standards I see every single day I don’t believe a good number of our drivers have ever passed a driving test, even a joke Cayman one.
More police presence needed on our words.
Roads*
Only 139? Wow.
This place is easily the worst place ive been and witnessed idiots behind a wheel and no one is doing anything to stop it
Wait up. Have we tried praying harder?
I see that drivers who cruise in the inside right lane (especially under the speed limit) as a huge reason for the erratic behavior. It frustrates other drivers and encourages them to weave back and forth, cut you off, and tailgate whilst trying to get around the blocked lane.
But the RCIPS encourages that people drive as slow as they want, so long they’re not speeding.
Between the tourists confused driving and the Jamaicans driving like there in a F1 race.
Driving in Cayman now sucks.
Police are shit and don’t do much, Laws don’t punish enough.
blah blah, down vote me. Still know it’s true.
More than half the police force is Jamaican. How can they enforce good driving, when they themselves don’t know how to drive?
Half? Even many of those that are Caymanian, are Jamaican.
The RCIPS needs to focus on the most dangerous place on Cayman’s roads and thats the three way stop at the end of Aspiration Drive and Fairbanks Road. There’s a steady running of the three stops signs, hourly, day and night; with children and adults walking the area regularly from school and the public excessive track.
Why can’t the RCIPS put one patrol car there for five days straight so the danger can be curbed?
Because if the cops don’t consistently enforce the law, nothing will change anyway.
Unless its COP Byrnes Covid 19 health order (circa March 2020).Then you had the RCIPS policing the buying of groceries with verdant ardor.Among all their other asinine Covid laws.
Now THAT was policing at its best in years here.
Should be a roundabout anyway
In a residential neighborhood near schools?
You are a dense one.
An average of seven crashes a day makes it clear a 14 day campaign isn’t enough.. albeit a good start. Make this an ongoing campaign until our road safety statistics improve, please RCIPS!
These hundreds of recorded incidents imply hundreds more of undetected, and when viewed quantifiably, provides the public with illustrative verifying data that the RCIPS isn’t convincingly deterring anything. Kurt needs to either get straight, or be replaced.
Kurt isn’t the problem. Cabinet support of RCIPS programs is the problem. We are lucky as hell that Kurt is still there.
You’re joking right? Have you seen the “supplemental” Budget amounts that were further approved by this Cabinet for appropriation for the police and other departments?
OCP1 Crime Prevention and Protection Services KYD$30.886mln (2024) and KYD$31.279 (2025)
OCP2 Crime Investigation and Criminal Justice Services KYD$12.494mln (2024) and KYD$12.542mln (2025)
OCP3 Policy Advice, Admin and Support KYD$9.325mln (2024) and KYD$9.475mln (2025)
OCP4 Coast Guard Services KYD$3.811mln (2024) and KYD$3.860mln (2025)
EI79 Office of Commissioner of Police KYD$3.195mln (2024) and KYD$2.315mln (2025)
OE128 Personal Emoluments for the Premier, Deputy Premier, Speaker of Parliament, Ministers and Members of Parliament KYD$4.169mln (2024) and KYD$4.287mln (2025) – this are expense benefits in addition to regular payroll, pension, medical comp. It goes on and on…https://www.gov.ky/publication-detail/appropriation-financial-years-2024-and-2025-bill-2023
I think the public deserves the respect to be allowed to ask some basic questions about the quality of services that are pledged to be performed for this and other money.
Since everything has gone up over the last few years, why don’t they do something with cell phone use etc. Instead of $150 fines, use $300 for first offense, then double it for subsequent. If there’s no losing of license, punish the wallets of idiots.
I agree with you. The number of people texting and scrolling while driving is appalling.
They’re expecting the figures to get better? I mean, if you can still drive for months with no license plate, blue/green/red headlights, bits of vehicle hanging off, all without being stopped, what they expect?
For us to forget and have a drink.
Pass the rum.
More evidence of the poor driving habits on the Islands. Oh wait, drivers are tested and sold drivers’ licenses by DVDL. Hmm, therein lies one of the problems.
How about we make the driving test harder, and retest people every 5-10 years. Oh, and NO TRANSFERS!
H’bout a UK driving test for all new drivers and mandatory driving reeducation as per UK standards for any and all infractions.
That will still have zero effect on people that simply do not give a damn about anyone but themselves. This is life in the Cayman Islands.
Pass the rum.
The funding public deserves to know how many full-time traffic officers comprise that enforcement division, who is in charge of that area of responsibility, how they report to us, eg. how many non-accident scene traffic stops and tickets written are being performed per day? Those are the important transparency metrics that always seem to go missing. RCIPS community patrols, dispersal, and visibility remain conspicuously underperforming, despite repeated assurances that they will be stepped up.
There was a whole string of break-ins along Governor’s Harbour concurrent with the entitled Easter Beach encampments, and an arrest made. That’s not normal. Why isn’t that in the report?
How many persons who ran in to light poles late at night were not breathalyzed?
We are not corrupt. I know this because the Governor (who is responsible for the police) would do something dramatic if we were. Right?
Please release more details. How many of these accidents were due to excessive speeding vs not following road code, like indicating your intent and just bad driving? How many did not include alcohol etc. These number don’t mean anything without detailed data.
Nothing will change as long as we keep our current standards for the roads. Change the regulations.
Guess those drivers never took the pledge.
so the optional pledge didn’t work?????
classic stuff from the police farce.
Because the used the Pledge to shine their cruisers instead.
Would have been better suited for the wiping of their arses.