Security Council gives blessing for speed cameras
(CNS): The National Security Council has given its blessing to the idea of speed cameras in the hope of reducing local crashes and fatalities on the roads. According to a summary of the closed-door meeting, held on Tuesday, 25 February, and chaired by the governor, National Roads Authority Director Edward Howard gave a presentation to NSC members on the business case for Automated Speed Enforcement using LIDAR Technology.
While the goal is to improve road safety, the technology would also mean the introduction of automatic administrative speeding tickets. The presentation outlined the benefits of speed cameras and projected costs over a three-year period. However, these potential costs were not included in the summary.
The NSC endorsed the plan which they agreed would reduce road accidents and fatalities.
During the meeting, the director of Customs and Border Control provided members with an update on contingency planning and cross-government work to handle irregular migration. Police Commissioner Kurt Walton also gave an update on recent criminal activities, including the robbery spike and the discharge of firearms reports.
The NSC members are: Governor Jane Owen (Chair), Juliana O’Connor-Connolly (Premier), Jay Ebanks (Minister), Isaac Rankine (Minister), Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, Attorney General Samuel Bulgin, Opposition Leader Joey Hew, Police Commissioner Kurt Walton, and two civil society representative, Gilbert McLean and Christopher Phillips.
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Other municipal ares that have installed these, have the camera locations well mapped (waze etc), and traffic decelerates and bottle necks through these transit zones. Eventually, the revenue model drops-off, replaced with a new congestion hotspot where we didn’t need one – like a highway.
How about including a noise sensor that can issue a citation for ear splitting exhaust brake usage. There are several trucks that have disabled their mufflers and the clutch switch on their exhaust brake so it is really loud when shifting gears. Exhaust brakes could either be prohibited or not used where the speed limit is below 50 miles per hour as they are much less e3ffective at low speeds.. Or am I just an old guy complaining about hard workers making a living and having a little fun in a crappy job
More useless spy equipment to use against the people that’s why the NSC was consulted in which certain UK vendors through their very own proxies here in our government will Of Course sell us at a super inflated price. Cayman you know the Drill assume the position and pull down those trousers aka pants You all know what coming next???? same old bullshit!!!!!
I maintain – speeding and phone use are, of course, a problem. BUT, speeding and phone use happen in every country. No one else has this number of collisions.
You can fix the little things, but nothing here will change until the fundamental problem is addressed – a huge percentage of the drivers here have no idea what the road laws are. Even if they wanted to drive correctly, they couldn’t
Police PLEASE GIVE TICKETS FOR NOT INDACATING ON THE ROUNDABOUTS.
And atrocious spelling, inappropriate use of capital letters, etc.
Nice idea but isn’t actually looking at the problem. Speed in some instance is the problem but far bigger are a) the ability to use indicators b) Get and stay in the right lane on a roundabout c) Overtaking d) Use of phones etc whilst driving. Teh simple use of indicators and deincentives for not should actually be teh highest priority.
About time – the driving standards on this Island are outrageous (got to be up there with the worst in the world) and all measures that can conceivably be taken should be implemented, including a vigilant police presence.
Sorry 1135am. I am from Boston Massachusetts and we are amongst the worst drivers in the world – Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles also should be mentioned. Grand Cayman would not even make my top ten list.
If the RCIPS’ 400+ full-time officers are being paid to be on the job and deployed in our community, and we are going to install machines to perform part of their ticketing functions, then it must mean we also have surplus officer headcount we can cut.
Otherwise, we need to see officers deployed, regulating prime racing spots like West Bay Road, and ETH, especially within the Hotel Tourism Zone, where the speed limit is supposed to be 25mph on WBR and 40 on ETH.
Officers should be supervising the forever construction sites that routinely block the sidewalk, bike lanes(?), and road way. They need to be ticketing the omnibus and gravel trucks that race, tailgate, obstruct, and endanger the public. Any vehicle running without headlights after dark needs to be pulled over. There are no machines for these functions.
The fact of the matter is, speed cameras work, but ONLY in jurisdictions where (A) an accurate update of all car ownership details is maintained (especially home address) and (B) a full, island-wide home delivery postal service is launched. Without (B) forget this initiative. Where will the speeding fines be sent to? I repeat that, so it can sink in – where will the speeding fines be sent to? The CCTV locally already has NPR technology, automatic speeding fines could have set up years ago, but without a direct postal service, this is a non-starter.
I don’t agree. Why shouldn’t tickets be delivered via email or by text message? It’s cheaper and more efficient.
As for not having an accurate register, all we can do is advertise the change and ask people to update their information.
If the speed camera system is implemented and if someone’s details aren’t accurate (meaning they do not receive tickets via emails and text), they will certainly be informed of accrued tickets when they go to renew their driver’s license or vehicle license.
I can’t say I’ll have much pity for them…
Seriously!! Can we just get the police to do their damn job. We are a 2 X 4 island, please stop making excuses about not being able to patrol. Here is an idea, have a plan on when police cars should be on the road. Here I will give you a schedule, it’s not that hard between 6:00am and 9:00am (everyday) all bypasses have crazy drivers then again at lunch and 4:00pm to 6:00ish then it’s quiet until late evening. This is not rocket science it’s knowing the times these idiots hit the roads, and organizing the police!! Get them out there and have them do their jobs. Maybe we should just start firing people.
Look CI Gov, just do SOMETHING. The florescent green and orange shirts in Honda Fits are running amok on our roads every day!
Easily defeated with the flippable license plates with a push of a button.
Just like how everyone knows to slow down when you get to the shaded spots on the straightest stretches of highway in Cayman where traffic unit likes to chill out and shoot fish in a bucket for doing 51 instead of being at a school zone.
Ah yes, these are bound to work, probably as well as the parking ticket machines at the airport.
The questions are, how many vehicles can those cameras capture at once? What happens when internet speeds fluctuate? how many person’s will get tickets incorrectly? will this be a waste of money since technology is changing so rapidly?
The question is, who has the exclusive agency locally..?
of course it would be too much like hard work to introduce a real driving license test.
Horrible idea. Will do NOTHING to improve the standard of driving. STOP accepting Jamaican licenses at a very minimum.
What about the Caymanians driving like helmets daily?
Not really sure what driving like helmets mean but the driving standard was always high in these islands prior to 2004. Ask around if you weren’t here to experience it.
Cameras recording erratic, dangerous driving and speeding really aren’t wanted are they? The truth hurts, and the the case of speed cameras, they might catch some of those who appear to be protected from prosecution.
Why delay, defer and deflect from the truth? It’s about irrefutable proof provided by cameras & technology trapping people in our society that have traditionally evaded prosecution for serious traffic offences such as speeding and drink driving. Some of these people commit these traffic crimes daily with impunity to the point those close to them accept it as normal behaviour.
There have been notorious cases of politicians being involved in traffic accidents, where circumstances suggest their obvious impairment have and have met with public discord due to lacklustre policing and solid evidence leading to conviction. This sets a fine example to new drivers and seasoned offenders doesn’t it? And then there are those traffic accidents involving people in positions of power and influence aren’t even reported by the media, why is that? Where exactly is the push back on implementing this technology coming from and why the hell has it now just come to an NSC endorsement of it? There exists a situation nothing short of outright anarchy on our roads and if that isn’t a national security issue, short of a potential insurrection I can’t fathom what is.
Where does our Governor stand on this, is she concerned or is she too busy planning her next garden party, or is she even here? And what from our CoP, anything but the sound of crickets? From the look of the recent appalling accident statistics it’s obvious this is a growing concern and not about to resolve itself. So if it’s now seemingly a matter of national security it needs to be implemented immediately!
Why is this issue not on the referendum list?
The Governor is a good “Listener”. If you raise these points with her, I am sure she will take it all en-bord.
Why would this need the blessing of the NSC?
So, in theory, a good if not great idea. But how much will it cost to purchase the cameras, install them, run power to them, run internet to them, hire the consulting/design firm to program the cameras so that the license plate, measured vehicle speed and speed limit in that location are all captured and sent to the RCIPS. And how much will it cost for the additional RCIPS staff to review and process the info and issue the tickets, track down the offenders and send the invoices and follow up on the unpaid tickets and bring court cases. Please do a cost benefit analysis.
A hell of a lot more expensive than the $20 covers that make the plate look bright white when photographed, rendering this a waste of money. I’ve seen a car here that can flip its plate inside out also.
The street racers with modded cars won’t be affected at all. This is a dumb police state idea straight out of China.
What’s next? AI powered robots filling in for RCIPS’ incompetency?
Was it an Aston Martin DB5?
It has to be a thrilling yet simple existence having your only point of reference to something that has been in widespread use throughout North America and Europe at this point for decades be “China”
muh muh muh – Police State… China…
COMMUNISM!!!!!
Its like watching a 2 year old play connect 4
Google RFID chip reader, cars now have 3 on board.
A missed opportunity to also capture thumbprint…
How do you capture thumbprint with pole mounted camera?