20 more smashes during road safety campaign
CNS): Despite efforts to improve the levels of safety on Cayman’s roads and to clamp down on traffic infringements, the police dealt with a further 20 road smashes in the week leading up to Christmas and in the middle of the RCIPS campaign "Stay Alive". Police said that during the third week 17 people were ticketed for speeding, nine for cell phone use and four for not wearing seatbelts. An additional 44 offences were also ticketed. Since the campaign started on 30 November, 24 drivers have been arrested for DUI and 230 tickets have been dished out for various traffic offences with a further 75 tickets for speeding.
“Members of the public are urged to be responsible road users over the holiday period and in particular to use designated drivers where necessary,” a spokesperson for the RCIPS said.
The police public education campaign will run until Friday 4 January.
Category: Local News
Regular enforcement by Police who care should/would go a long way to making roads safer too!
The level of regular effective enforcement here is truly wanting! And no i'm not an expat…but a caymanian who has travelled a fair amount, and witnessed proper traffic enforcement.
Speed is not the problem. Volume of traffic on road that were designed for half the current amount are the real issue. no where else in the world would it be considered a good idea to place a round about in the middle of a striaght road that functions as a 'highway'. It already has racked up ore than 50 accidents. NRA's response? add steel railings for cars to hit… brilliant. If accidents are occuring frequently you have a problem with both the road and the drivers. Two solutions, fix the roads or fix the drivers. It's a whole lot easier to fix a road than it is to 'fix' a culture.
The police and licensing dept some months ago had talked about reducing the drinking limit. Cayman has one of the highest limits in the the world 0.1. We need lower the limit and change our culture of driving whilst intoxicated. There are number of options we can use nth to drive k and drive. Taxis, designated driver and those guys on the little scooters who drive your car home.
Steering with a limp wrist and leaning the whole body to one side while speeding and chatting on the phone, seems to be the style now. I'm thinking of getting a dash-cam just to protect myself in case of an accident. No one would believe the truth in court, otherwise.
Why will the NRA not laydown some heavy road grip on both bypass roundabout's south of Hurleys? They know about it (coz they grooved them out in an effort to mend the problem) but it didn't work… one drop of rain and it's an ice rink!
A few months ago there was an accident at the same time – on each one! I believe the roundabout past snug harbor on the bypass is also just a bad.
Blame the drivers all you want, we are only as good as the roads you build for us. I guess it takes someone to get killed for something to be done about it. I pray it ain't my family.
Bob
As someone who does a lot of walking, running and cycling around Cayman, the problem isn't lack of road grip, its speed..I see drivers approaching roundabouts at all too high a speed all the time. Drivers are not approaching roundabouts with a view to stopping and giving way as is required, they are speeding up and trying to beat the car that is in the roundabout and beating the other driver by seconds to spare…spend some time at them and you will see what I mean..
The way to avoid an accident is to drive whilst exercising due care and attention and understanding the road conditions. No matter how wet the road is at the roundabouts in question I do not skid like it is an ice rink because I understand the road conditions and drive accordingly.
It is always someone else's fault, take some repsonsibility for your own actions.
I have been driving for more than 30 years,without having an accident and I agree that those roundabouts can be incredibly slick. They are really hazerdous when rain has just started to fall after a dry spell, and there is oil on the surface. Once enough rain has fallen, the oil is washed off. It is not just a question of how wet the road is. Even drivers "exercising due care and attention" can fall victim to unreasonably slick conditions.
Use tires with tread, works great!
This more than anything speaks of the high level of terrible drivers and lack of the police force to discipline them in Grand Cayman. Here you need to plan on drivers running red lights, not stopping at stop signs, overtaking on blind courners, speeding, and everything else that makes it dangerous for everyone else. Cayman is a place where the locals from the leadership on down do not yet understand the value to society or themselves in following rules. Plan and drive accourdingly.
The disbanding of the Traffic department has infact been a disaster by this foreign run RCIPS management but if you read yesterdays Caymanian compass you will realise they had lots of help with that process(new traffic law apparently no wonder it took so darn long the make me money clause had to be added) as it appears the Big Brother iswatching you camera system is now about to expand its role to now prosecuting people for traffic offenses on our roads.The really good part is as usual their going to need our help with public funding to make it all possible. Just another area so some govt official friends and family can make money collecting fines and employment opportunities for those back home.You know how it goes Cayman
People, please slow down and just be a little courteous: use ur turn signals and calm down.
Sheesh.
You have not been in Cayman long have you?
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Hey hows that crosswalk coming along? Planned in 2010, started in June, moving at the pace of…
Currently, we have a couple of posts with what looks like a solar panel, some buttons, and signs attached that are covered with plastic. It is not a legal crosswalk yet.
How are we going to explain that to the visitors standing in the dark, pressing a button that connects to nothing who then step into the road leading with a stroller believing that drivers will respect the rights of a pedestrian.
I did see the state of the art system flashing and lighting up like crazy a monthor so ago, I have never seen anything like it!
I wonder if any other jurisdition who chose this lighting system is having the same amount of trouble getting it to work. I wonder if any other jursidiction has chosen this lighting system. I wonder who chose this system for us, and why.
CNS, please update us on the crosswalk. Even by "Cayman time" it is long overdue.
Significantly Increased fee for each traffic violation is all that needed, and of regular course enforcement.
I was thinking yesterday as I drove past a group of concerned policemen looking at a crumpled bicycle on West Bay Road why it has taken so long to consider reducing the speed limit. Then I thought about why it wouldnt change.
Who stands to profit the most from being able to travel faster, and in turn make more trips on that stretch of road? Taxi's and buses certainly must be a part of the lobby group preventing the change. But do they really have the power to influence goverment?
What about the dump trucks that rocket through the center of our tourist area. Who owns them?
What about the dump trucks that rocket through the center of our tourist area. Who owns them?
Well, if his own admission is to be believed, the Chairman of the UDP owns at least one…