West Bay drivers in heavy road offence toll

| 04/08/2009

(CNS): Police have reported that 62 drivers were found to be breaking the traffic law in one way or another, in just one day, during three operations carried out in West Bay. On Monday 3 August traffic cops conducted two daytime operations on Town Hall Road and West Bay Road and then a further  evening road block. During the day two people were found to be using a vehicle with expired registration and without a certificate of road worthiness, eight people were booked for speeding, sixteen people were found not wearing their seatbelts and thirty one people were prosecuted for failing to comply with a traffic sign.

Later at the evening road block, one man was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, two people were booked for speeding and two others were warned for minor traffic offences.

“Our intentions with these road blocks are two fold,” said Area Commander Chief Inspector Angelique Howell. “Firstly, we need to ensure people are abiding by the traffic laws – speeding, drinking and driving and not wearing seatbelts puts lives at risk and we have a duty to ensure road users stay safe. And secondly, criminals use the roads; they move around and carry drugs and guns in their vehicles. These blocks put pressure on the criminals and assist in our intelligence gathering.”

Anyone with information about crime taking place in West Bay should contact the police station on 949-3999 or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling Crime Stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    "sixteen people were found not wearing their seatbelts" What a hanious crime? against who? Did the officers check to see how many of the drivers that were wearing there seat belts were on their cell phone? but that is allowed. Eventhough not wearing a seat belt don’t cause crashes and using a cell phone certainly do or at the least near misses. The only thing the seat belt does is to protect against personal injury which should be left up to the individual to decide. Not the law. Unless they are acting as agents for the insurance companies who may have to pay out  on a claim for additional injury. Where is the common sense here?

  2. Anonymous says:

    I know it is necessary to try and keep road traffic offences down but I cant help thinking that it would be time well spent if they tried to stop the break-ins and petty crime in West Bay.

    I love living where I do in West Bay but am now thinking of moving due to the crime in and around my complex – I cant even leave my kids pennies in the car without someone unzipping my car windows and taking it!!! Bikes have been stolen and houses broken into. Myself and my neighbours can no longer feel safe to leave the door unlocked during the day when someone is at home as people just think they can come in and take what they like!!

    Come on West Bay Police make it a safer place to live as well as drive!!!

  3. Anonymous says:

    waste of police time – the police spend so much time checking for expired registrations in west bay, typically at night time with a cast of thousands, holding up traffic on west bay road near the cemetary. now why don’t they instead outsource the whole function to "wheel clampers" giving them licence to clamp unexpired cars anywhere. the clampers could, for example, just go to fosters or kirks car parks and book as they see fit, and pretty soon it won’t be a problem.

     

  4. Anonymous says:

    i have lived in west bay for 13 months. up until may 2009 i used to encounter idiotic driving , mainly incredibly dangerous overtaking , between calico jacks and the cemetary on a daily basis. it got to the point that i was thinking of installing a camera in my car to witness these crazy events to put on youtube so people could believe my stories. however since May things seem to have calmed down which i believe co-incides with the extra work done by the police. if thats the reason then good work mr policeman.

    however what i still find incredulous, is that just about everyday on my journeys elsewhere on Grand Cayman there will be an idotic driver incident that i witness. if i was a undercover policecar i would find a reason to book these people and in most case suspend their licence for a long time. so my question really is , if i spend just 45 mins driving a day and witness these crazy incidents, why aren’t the 100 or so policeman driving around all day should be witnessing them too? so mr policeman please explain why you don’t do anything about these incidents.

    for starters how about starting to book the people running the redlights at the Compass intersection, the outside lane drivers cutting you off at the AL Thompson roundabout etc etc etc etc etc.

     

  5. Anonymous says:

    I pulled out of the Esso station at the 4way stop and was caughtless than 100 yards down the road for not having a seatbelt, my fault I guess.

    I didn’t mind so much but whilst waiting for the policeman to do the paperwork, he stopped an another car with 6 people piled into 4 seater wreck of saloon car. The driver was stopped for his belt, he argued and was let go, I didn’t see him even need to produce any paperwork.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Can you please do some sort of checks on West Bay Road during the day when all the cruise ship passengers are in? The way the busses and taxis park along side the road, how they stop without notice (no signal), the way they overtake other vehicles using the center turning lane is pathetic and it won’t be long before someone gets killed (again)!

    Also, how can some of these taxis have a certificate of road worthiness is beyond me! Their windows are tinted so dark, you can’t see in at all. The exhaustion they blow up in the air is black as can be, and still they are allowed to drive up and down every day. I would have assumed that the laws for people who making a living of driving up and down every day and night are enforced even stricter, but I guess it is all about who you know again to get your vehicle passed. Usual BS in the Cayman Islands!

  7. Anonymous says:

    Great work RCIPS, now if only you could be as efficient and diligent in dealing with serious crime…  keeping all those aweful people who refuse to wear seat belts off our roads is one thing… how about dealing with muggings and burglaries now?!