NRA plans to make West Bay road safer
(CNS): Plans to make the West Bay road safer by lowering the speed limit and introducing crossings are now on the table. The National Roads Authority said over the next 12 months it will be introducing safety measures that include a roundabout at the junction near Tikki Beach which leads to the bypass, at least one crosswalk near the Strand shopping plaza and a 30mph zone from Eastern Avenue in George Town up to just North of Tikki Beach. News 27 reports that the NRA is taking calls regarding the need to improve pedestrian and traffic safety on the road seriously. The project is expected to cost up to $30,000.
Category: Local News
okay yea the speed limit i can understand with. but the round about by tiki beach i dont agree why the since of a round about all these round about is nothing but causeing accident. so from my point of view we dont need the round about
I really dont think this is going to work.
First this road is the main transport road to get working people from West Bay to George Town. You limit the speed so people will have to leave for work earlier. So now we have an eight hour workday and add 30-45 minutes one way to get to and back from work. That means that West Bay people will have 10 hour days.
Second the individuals that are causing the problem dont care when they broke the speed limit when it was 40 mph what makes you think they will care now that it is 30 mph.
Third is that the 7 mile beach seems to be an off limit for the police cars. I drive down there and people are flying back and forth and I still cant find a police officer.
This is totally ridiculous! If the young drivers are taught properly how to drive, then we wouldn’t need to change the speed limit!!!
I have said time and time again….if the Drivers here were to drive in the UK……they wouldn’t last 5 mins!!!!
Crosswalks? Definitely!!!! We need them! Why do we need to lower the speed limit, when it’s only 40? It’s the ones that already do 50 & 60 that are the problem!!!!
Thank goodness and it’s about time after 10years of hit and runs and high speeding fatal accidents. For the safety of all residents and tourist please hurry and get this done. Please install more bridges, pedestrian crossings and lower speed limits.
Wow!…who would have thunk that it would take so many experts so loooong to take some action to at the very least lower the speed limit on this section of road?…it’s the same speed limit as the "bypass" roads (those with practically no pedestrians or entries/exits) go figure!
‘Bout bloody time this got sorted out! Its not difficult NRA!
NOT ANOTHER ROUND-ABOUT!!! I think cayman has toomuch as it is….got a right people drive so bad and get in so many accidents…they driving around in circles all day!!
I don’t know which brainiac in NRA agrees to put another circle in the road…. but why not put a traffic light instead. Traffic lights are 200% more effective than any road circle.
West Bay Road needs more crosswalks… even some than are up high like the one ritz carlton has to cross from one side of the road tothe other. This wouldn’t interrupt the flow of traffic and would be safe once its maintained by NRA.
NO MORE ROUNDABOUTS!!! WE HAVE ENOUGH!!!!!
That is your opinion. Mine would be the opposite. When roundabouts are properly used, i.e. drivers always indicate & stick to their lane, they allow a greatly increased flow of traffic. For example, with a light traffic may have to stopto wait for the light to change even if the road is clear in the other direction, whereas, with a roundabout that is not so.
I agree. Roundabouts, used properly are far, far better than traffic lights as the traffic doesn’t keep getting halted. It flows much better.
I agree with you rounds abouts are better. The problem is that in this country they are a disaster waiting to happen. People in Cayman have major problems of getting in the right lane at the right time and using indicators. Someone is going to get hurt especially at the one in Industrial Park.
roundabout are cheaper to maintance than traffic lights also too many people gamble with their lives to jump red lights. It is safer to use roundabout as you KNOW when it is safe to across than traffic lights. If you don"t like roundabout then move to USA where there is no roundabouts!!
Okay so somthing needs to be done and I cant do anything about what happens as usual but I think my eyesight just failed because what I see cannot be true. $30,000.00????? Surely this is supposed to be $30,000,000.00 since no project in Cayman is always a multi-million dollar price tag!
Any by the way, I dont see so much of a problem with the taxi’s, but those mini buses are going to kill someone someday soon no matter what the speed limit. They have their own speed limit and most time they make up their own lanes.
If more than half the driver’s on these roads were capable of using a roundabout properly I’d say the roundabout was a fantastic idea but alas, they’re not so it would be much better to put in traffic lights. Also, they’re going to spend $30,000 on this project and only put in one additional pedestrian crossing, is that for real? what a crock!! There are precious few people who obey the speed limit on any of the roads so I doubt that reducing the speed limit will make a difference. How about putting in a serious amount of crossings and making some kind of provision for cyclists too, that would kill two birds with one stone – make it safer for pedestrians, and maybe, just maybe encourage Islander’s to get a tad more active – and all those who are complaining that the rise in petrol duty is going to leave them penniless – walk orcycle to work instead!! bingo!!
This is a great opportunity to get rid of the West Bay Road Turning lane. Move the two lanes of traffic in a bit, create bike lanes in both directions, widen the sidewalks, and if youve any space left create a boulevard of trees Dart style down the middle, with occasional break in it to allow people to turn. If everyone is doing 30mph this won’t be problem, and if queues start to form (because of people trying to turn without a turning lane, they will use the bypass (getting rid of traffic that doesn’t need to be in a tourist area.
Segregated bike lanes would by fun for the whole family! Room to put one along the bypass from Tiki to ALT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONS2ptAR4mo
How about a few trolley cars to make frequent, but specific stops (i.e. Public beach,Tiki bar, Reef Grill, cinema,Coconut Joe’s, GT, Comfort Suites etc.) continuously thru the day and night so alot of tourists do not feel the need to rent a car and drive up and down SMB? Also, how about some sort of water ferry that runs up the beach? The less tourists on the road, the less congestion on West Bay and also maybe less tourists crossing WB?
Dropping the speed limit is a great idea, but only if inforced and another round-a-bout may just cause further back up especially if tourists hesitate around it?
As a tourist driver (who has rotaries in my own state), I feel the biggest problem on WB Rd. is at dusk. The road is quite dark in certain areas and better lighting (especially before the Ritz and also near Comfort Suites) and that is where alot of "tourists" seem to dart out into the traffic. More lighting in those areas would be a big plus.
Just my 2cents.
The NRA like those who appointed them are incompetent. I did not say they are bad people; I said they are incompetent. Here’s what I mean.
We make RIGHT-OF-WAYS- into WRONG-OF WAYS. Anyone with common sense should know that here in Caymanwe MERGE to the right. That is, since we drive on the left, the driver on the right should have the RIGHT of WAY; the driver nearest the MIDDLE of the road (on the right) should have the right of way. That is why it’s called a right of way; that is why at the round-about, the driver on the right has the right of way. But no…………………
Check the markings at Bobby Thompson where the driver on the right must merge left. Check the Butterfield Round-about to Harquail By-pass. Because of some agressive driving that caused a fatal accident, the great geniouses decided that they’d change the markings to solve the problem. What will they do when another/more serious accident occurs? And check the road form Butterfield Round-about to Sound road. Same error-no wonder we have problems on the roads of Cayman when the "Authority" doesn’t know what it is doing,
Finally, if you dispute my claim of incompetence simply go to the small round about by Galleria/Fidelity on West Bay road. Check the BROKEN WHITE LINE that seperates the road leading into the Century 21 round-about from Seven Mile Beach road immediately adjacent to the opposite side/direction road entering the small round-about from Camana Bay. THIS SHOULD BE AT LEAST A SOLID YELLOW LINE AND MAYBE TO ENSURE SAFTEY A DOUBLE YELLOW LINE. I pity our poor terrorist… I mean tourists who already struggle with having to drive on the "wrong side of the road".
I am all for making the roads safer but I can tell you that until the authorities enforce the present crosswalks (I am unsure whether by law, pedestrians actually have the right of way), stopjay-walkers from walking across the Ritz Carlton when there is a perfectly good bridge ( and it was placed there for that specific reason), and the NRA gets some edcuation themselves, there is no need for another cross-walk as I am doubtful that someone being hit at 30 mph versus 40 mph will survive.
As always in my country, we keep trying to cover gaping wounds with band-aids. It is high time we recognize when even our best friends are not doing their jobs properly, we need to let them know and if they don’t correct the problem, we find someone who will.
Is there a relationship betweenthe number of cross walks and the number of pedestrian fatalities? The fewer cross walks the higher the pedestrian fatality rate perhaps.
There are many studies avail online. Many motorists do not stop even when the lights are flashing. Similarly, many people will still jay-walk even when there is a cross walk a few feet away.
Another roundabout – are you serious???? A round about is only effective if it is big enough to allow traffic to continuously flow around it, unfortunately when they are the size of a dounut as most are they don’t really work…Have you even seen any one use the one in industrial park near Mirco Centre; its impossible and pointless… but that’s just my opinion…
1 more crossing in roughly 5 miles of road? Making a grand total of what, 2? Not a particuarly impressive effort.
The proposals will be an improvement, however as the majority of taxi and bus drivers don’t adhere to the rules of the road anyway I’m not sure the 30 mph speed limit will slow them down. Only yesterday I was driving from WB to GT along WB Road in a stream of traffic travelling at 30mph and was overtaken by a taxi bus, flashing his hazard lights, in the middle lane outside of the Ritz. He narrowly missed a head on collision with another taxi turning into the hotel. How about some regulation of these lunatics or a telephone hotline where we can call their licence plates into?
It need an ‘island’ at every mile or so in middle of road which it will stop idiots bus/taxi drivers overtaking overnight and make safer for people to across the road, ‘island’ will make people feel happier and safer to protect from traffic in the middle of road.
Lots of studies and papers online on the subject:
http://www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pedbike/pubs/0105.pdf
http://www.stpete.org/stpete/bicycle/docs/ite_paper_07.pdf
While they’re at it the NRA should paint a solid bright white line down the Harquail bypass and the rest of the island’s roads for that matter to reduce the number of drivers that feel the need to overtake. Police could easily enforce and ticket offenders (hmmm…. enhanced revenue stream??).
There are many near misses and unfortunately in some cases, fatal accidents, that are caused by idiots who use every small gap in oncoming traffic as an excuse to pass the cars in front of them. These mindless acts unnecessarily endanger everyone’s lives. On an island this small, you can be everywhere in a few minutes – there is absolutely no need for vehicles to be allowed to overtake.
There is sometimes a need to overtake and it is perfectly legal on most roads if the vehicle in front in going very slowly. In the case of tourists and the 40% of drivers on the phone not paying attention then you are are safer overtaking them and getting on with your journey.
AND if driver’s would do the speed limit, perhaps we wouldn’t have so many overtake, seriously, if you’re going 25mph then move over slightly to the side of the road so it’s easier to pass you.
Finally! The NRA needs to do something quickly about the safety of pedestrians (& drivers) on the W Bay Rd. They also need to consider a crosswalk by Comfort Suites / Coconut Joes as this is a dangerous hot-spot for tourists crossing from the Hotel to the Restaurant. I trust the crosswalks the NRA install will be prominent, clearly marked & elevated crossings. Simple black & white stripes on the road with flashing ‘lollipops’ will not suffice. The type of crossing by the Glass House / Immigration Dept would be advisable. Whilst they’re at it, how about improving the cross-walks in town at the cruise ship terminals. More visible Ped-Xings in town would encourage tourists to use the cross-walks rather than jay walk.