Cyclist in bus hit & run
(CNS): A 17-year-old man was knocked off his bicycle this week by a West Bay (WB1) public mini-bus driver who failed to stop. The cyclist received injuries to his arm during the incident and was treated at the George Town Hospital. Traffic officers from the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) are now appealing for witnesses to the hit and run, which occurred in George Town at around 1.40pm on Tuesday, 15 December, close to the AALL building in North Church Street.
Police said the teenager was riding his bicycle northwards towards the West Bay Road, and as he approached the roadway close to the AALL building he was struck by the white Toyota minibus, which was also travelling north and which failed to stop.
PC Watts from the RCIPS Traffic Department is appealing for anyone who may have been in the area at the time, or who knows anything about the incident, to contact him.
“The minibus was white in colour and has the marking WB1 on the front and rear,” he said. “If you can provide any information which could help us identify the driver of the vehicle please call the traffic department on 956-6254.”
Category: Headline News
The police simply do not enforce the traffic laws where minibuses are involved. There are relatively simple devices that can be fitted into all licensed taxis and buses which record the speed, location and use of signals of these vehicles at all times. It would bea simple thing to legislate that any time a person drives a taxi or minibus without one of these devices in operation they are committing an offense and are liable to a significant fine and banned for life from driving such vehicles. Similarly the information in the devices could be downloaded every month or so and if there is any evidence or illegal operation of the vehicle, the appropriate penalties could be imposed.
Unfortunately until some politician or one of their family members or cronies is killed nothing will happen to make things better. Our politicians would much rather jet set around the planet than deal with any of the problems facing us every day.
I realize that taxi and tourbus and regular bus drivers need to make a living but why does it seem that they are the worst drivers on the island. West Bay Rd. has a 40 mph speed limit and whenever the traffic is slowed down to a crawl you can certainly find one of these drivers at the front of it. In areas where there is a slower speed limit they are racing around as if they are on crack. Someday I would like to see the RCIP actually crack down on these drivers yabbering on their cell phones totally oblivious to the traffic going on around them!
Everyone knows the taxis are the worst offenders on the road. For the benefit of the few of them with an IQ greater than that of a pumpkin and the ability to read…
Center turning lane – NOT FOR OVERTAKING
Roundabouts – Inner lane to go around, outer lane to get off at next exit
Red Lights – They MEAN stop, it is not a SUGGESTION!!!
Courtesy – well where does one start???
Double yellow lines – NO PARKING – not even for a few minutes while you hustle up a fare like a 2 dollar whore…
Trying to enter traffic from a side road? WAIT YOUR DAMN TURN – edging out is only going to pi$$ off the other beings of higher intellegence that frequent the road – and we ain’t gonna give you a bligh – EVER!!!
Traffic signs – they are the law – just because the pignoramous Royal Cayman Incompetance Police Farce don’t enforce them doesn’t mean you should take advantage their laziness and endanger us!!
So, if you have a friend, or know someone who can translate these basic rules to a level of understanding of our (generally pretty ignorant) taxi force, please help out – it is unlikely we can correct a pretty lost species’ weaknesses, but any change will help.
Or remember – it is only a matter of time before there is a REALLY SERIOUS accident at the hands of their selfish driving habits…
Could be you, your family, your friends, or with a bit of luck, just two of them!!!
LMAO! Your comment made me laugh so hard! But yes, you are absolutely correct in how you feel and what you’ve said! The taxi drivers ARE the absolute worst on the road! They have no manners or regard for the next man on the road! They act like they own the streets and you are to stop for them no matter what stupidness they do! They’re driving and total disregard for the law and life and limb totally disgusts me!!
I hope you don’t really think that what you or anyone else has to say will make any difference to any of the dangerous drivers here. They will continue to drive the way they do until they are given a good enough reason to stop. Talking bad about them?No. Threatening them with fines or takeing away their license? Not unless they think they will be caught. And they don’t. Face it Cayman occasional traffic stops are not much of an everyday deterent. They only way to stop all the dangerous driving on Cayman is with an agressive and continual action on the part of the police. For some reason beyond anyones comprehension The police on Cayman have never even gotten close to this. An average driver on Cayman will see many offences per day but rarely do you see anyone being pulled over, ticketed, or even looked at by the police. Maybe its the Caymans custom of never dealing directly with the criminaly inclined. There seems to be a live and let live attitude with crime that maybe goes way back to Caymans beginning. That explains a lot about why Cayman is they way it is and why it will only get worse. Watch out for your selves and your friends. No one else here will.
I wouldn’t limit this suggestion to just Taxi/Bus drivers! Driving here is a joke, it’s so bad that I cannot believe insurance rates aren’t higher.
It is aggression and lack of respect for the law, which is highly apparent on this island and obviously spreading to more significant breaches of the law, public safety, and personal protection.
Most exciting ride I ever experienced!!!!Period!!!!!!When I asked the driver to slow down he told me he was in a rush.Are you kidding me?There were three visitors(tourists) on that bus and I know they got off before their intended stop.The other folks were too frightened to say anything to this guy.It wont be long before they kill someone or several people and then lets see if the powers that be will take proper action.Last time I was nervous driving was in West Kingston doing my drivers test and 3 people died in onecrash during that drive but one thing I will say is that if you can drive there you can drive anywhere in this world(with the possible exception of Bankok Thailand)
Time to clean up the driving of some(not all)of these drivers before its too late.
I too have witnessed some terrible driving on our roads. Total disregard for the law, safety of passengers, other road users and pedestrians by some of the bus drivers and other road users.
For example, stopping suddenly in the road to embark/disembark passengers, overtaking in the turning lane on West Bay Road, cutting off other vehicles on the roundabouts, attempting to beat the red light and speeding. DANGEROUS DRIVING!
Do we make mistakes when driving? Yes…we all do…no one is a perfect driver.
However, If I were driving in such a manner, the police would pull me over and issue me a ticket. Why aren’t the police seeing these infractions??
The worst drivers in Cayman are Cab and Taxi drivers!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, let’s build an oil refinery here. Our government can’t regulate and properly monitor a few mad taxi drivers but I’m sure they can handle a major industrial facility like that, no problem.
Told you so.
This is what happens when one group of drivers is allowed to ignore all rules, courtesy and common sense on the roads.
These bizarre people clearly do not know how to drive or simply do not care. They should have been reigned in by the police many years ago.
I have learned over the years to go to red alert whenever I approach a minibus/taxi nut. You can’t trust them to follow any of the basic rules. They stop on dime right in the middle of the road to pick up/let off passangers. They turn without using blinkers. They cut in front of you. Simply put, they can’t drive!
I never let them out into traffic. I speed away from them instinctively because they are so dangerous. I also always roll up the windows at first sight of them because they are always belching thick black pollution.
How do their vehicles pass inspection anyway?
Most disturbing of all is the fact that these loonies are a key reason McKeeva wants to destroy Grand Cayman with his massive dock in order to bring in more cruise ships. Got to make sure the taxi drivers have plenty of tourists to pick up.
the end is near
The worst driving I have seen in Cayman has bene by bus and taxi drivers – the police should spend a day or two booking and banning them after some of their antics. I saw one two weeks ago cross over two lanes at the Marriot to overtake and dodge someone in the middle lane. There will be fatalities – this young man was obviously very very lucky.
If some one (not the Cayman Police obviously) could charge and collect fines for half of all the traffic offences on island everyday there would be no need to raise duty fees. And as a bonus 1/4 of the drivers would no longer be able to afford to buy gas. No joke!
You want a witness on Grand Cayman? Good one!
To you newbees on the island. Be carefull because certain people here don’t need to follow any traffic rules so you will see lots of speeding, running red lights, no yeilding, parking in fire lanes, passing on blind courners (my favorite) and running into stationary rock walls, parked cars etc. Its some sort of custom here. Remeber If your driving in Cayman your in the way!
Wait I almost forgot. No turn signals ever.
You forgot parking in the road to talk and stopping to let off- take on passengers around a blindcourner. (my favorite). But this is a third world country. At least there are no donkey carts yet!
To hit a person on a bicycle is one thing but to do so and leave the scene is a crime in every civilized place on the planet.
This person should not be driving a tricycle not to mention a minibus.
I knew it would happen sooner or later.
Those bus drivers are crazy. They should be monitored as they pull into the roadway right in front of other drivers and don’t care how fast they are driving. They think they have the right to drive however they want!
There are many times when I see them driving that I think they’re going to kill someone, because they are so reckless.
I think the law and traffic department should overhaul the entire public transport system with a view to making it safer for everyone involved.
I hope that the victim will pull through this okay.
Are you kidding me? If there were passengers in there, they should ALL be ashamed for not reporting this.
Come on now, are you serious!! How many buses are there that are marked WB1. It’s not like it’s hard to find. Stop being lazy and go to the bus park and look for it.
Surely there were passengers on the bus that could be honest for a change and come forward here. I know that local people don’t care much for the police force but you have got to start telling them what you know as continually higher levels of crime are becoming normality.
This is Cayman
so the police cannot find out who was driving one of the islands official buses at a certain time on a certain day??….zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I agree completely. This is depressing on so many levels, as others have said anyone that uses the buses or drives on the same road as them have witnessed repeatedly poor driving that endangers all due to their overly agressive driving and complete disregard for others. The biggest thing for me though is that we have a police service that cannot detect the driver of such a clearly marked vehicle, of which there must be no more than five possible vehicles?