Van runs down cyclist on West Bay Road
(CNS): Police are hunting for witnesses and a male cyclist is said to be in stable condition after being hit by a van on the West Bay Road on Boxing Day afternoon. At around 2:58 pm on Wednesday 26 December, police said a GMC Savanah vehicle and a cyclist were involved in a collision in the vicinity of the St Matthews College dormitory on the West Bay Road. Emergency Services attended the scene and the cyclist was transported to the George Town Hospital.The cyclist who sustained injuries in the crash remains hospitalized. Anyone who witnessed the accident should call the George Town Police Station at 949 4222.
Category: Local News
Cyclists and pedestrians are vulnerable in the Cayman Islands since many of our drivers (both homegrown and imported) lack the cosmopolitan driving experience necessary to expect and to coexist with them. Add an absence of cycling/jogging lanes, and lack of basic regular traffic enforcement and the engrained attitudes will not naturally adapt. Motorists need to be taught the favor that these active people are doing: that’s one less car you’ll have to sit behind, one less muffler spewing soot, and eventually one less obesity case for our health system to process, please give them some space and due respect. It’s also tourism dollars – platoons of tourists are now frequently peddling from GT port up to the turtle farm (i saw a group of over 35 today). Some motorists might be surprised to learn that as they approach slower moving humans ahead,they must provide a buffer of 3 feet, overtaking only when safe to do so respecting the buffer. Whether or not the cyclist is wearing a helmet, signaling correctly, wearing a light (at 3pm in the afternoon), or going in the right direction, drivers must override their own personal judgements and anticipate the traffic situation, driving defensively, always prepared to stop and yield if necessary, not forcing the flesh versus steel confrontations that dismount cyclists regularly on our roads. Whoever becomes the next health minister must address the topic of bike lanes and human safety in our islands, it is an urbane reality we all must address like thesophisticated society we keep assuring ourselves we are.
News flash driver found and arrested due CCTV cameras that caught whole act on video……not. The excuse will be they were not working at the time due to maintaince. What a waste of public funds. I thought these incidents are the same reasons they were installed for? Probably more likely someone saw the opportunity to make some money. When is this all going to stop?
I hope the cyclist gets well and hires a good attorney and sue the government for every penny for negligence. These kinda things should not be happening on our public roads and for the police to be requesting for witnessess? Really? Millions spent on camera junk!
Millions spent on Cameras but nothing spent on the skill to set them up and use them. Caymankind!
I posted a few moments ago and forgot to add that I sincerely hope the bike rider who was in the accident makes a full and complete recovery.
Driving standards are dire in Cayman.. But can someone tell cyclists that they should ride on the left like everyone else? As a cyclist having to pull out into the traffic to avoid some idiot riding the wrong way down the road really doesn’t help.
Are there any type of cycling proficiency courses for the youth of Cayman to attend, so they can learn what are the rules of the road, what the law is, and also learn how to cycle safely?
What elements are built into our driving test for motorists to learn in respect to cyclists?
Maybe it was the police surveillance van that noone can find!!
Taking responsibility for your actions is not culturally accepted here. Running from it seems to have been taught before 5th grade.
1) Deny
2) Blame foreigners
3) Blame status grant holders
4) Plead not guilty
5) Appeal
This appears to be cover most issues.
It's just so much easier to keep going…
…for those with no self respect.
As a regular cyclist, with a snarky attitude towards most things Caymankind, I have little to say.
BUT, I was biking on Boxing Day going down the "Spotts Straight" (towards GT) and could see a white car in my mirrror, approaching me at high speed. In spite of no one being in the other lane, much less coming from town in the third lane, this A*****e, did not even move into the next lane.
I just want to say "F*** Y**", even though I doubt you would be capable of reading this comment..
That was me, sorry.
Was trying to knock some Christmas cheer into your grumpy a**.
00.05 I gave up cycling years ago for the same reason, after a pickup came up fast behind me and deliberately moved across the road to miss me by just inches, all the while road ahead was clear. Suicide? No Sah!
Doesn’t surprise me…. Cyclists get zero respect on cayman roads. The bus drivers are the worst offenders with taxi drivers coming a close second. Seems as though they feel cyclists are not allowed on “their” roads…
And heaven forbid you should park in their private VIPspace in front of the door at the Fosters Strand
And I was nearly flattened under a car's wheels yesterday, as it pulled out on me from a side turning. I nearly went over the handlebars and under the wheels. The driver looked shocked afterwards. I can tell you I was more shocked, but not surprised. This kind of driving is prevalent on Cayman's roads.
A compulsory and strict (at least 50% of hose tested should fail, in order to improve standards and accountability) driving test for everyone on the island must come into force, irrespective of whether you have a driving license from elsewhere and also, I believe, how long you've been driving. The only exceptions should be tourists from some countries with strict driving tests.
And I must add, I cycle according to all the rules applying to any vehicle, drive on the left, indicate with my arm (most drivers have not yet worked out what their indicators are for), I give way or stop when signs indicate I should and I do not stop and therefore cause indecision and uncertainty when no stop is called for (as where many drivers stop in strange places for no other reason than to let another driver out). In relation to this last point, consider the effect on cyclists, cars in a second lane on a dual carriageway each of which may not stop if they do not identify what is about to happen, or to the less attentive drivers behind who may smash into the back of you.
And, if you have no sympathy for cyclists, which weirdly I find is the case with some drivers, try and re-educate yourself by picturing your child on a bike instead of an adult in full cycling clothing. For that matter just consider children walking at the side of the road. They are almost as vulnerable as cyclists. Do they not have the right to be safe too?
Please, look at yourself, your standard of driving and take responsibility for yourself.
Good points and I admire you following the law. Sadly you are one of the very few cyclists who seem to bother. The majority cycle on the wrong side of the road, cut across traffic any which way they please, rarely wear any kind of bright or reflective clothing, and never seem to bother with lights at night. Sadly the majority of cyclists are NOT like you and flout the law and rules of the road. And then they wonder why they get little respect.
Well written article. I ride my bike regularly and like the writer above, I obey the rules, use hand signals etc. I believe there are drivers who delibertly see how close they can come to you, but the ones that really get me are those who go speeding past you and then immediately turn left. Man those people really bug me. Especially when one is about to go pitching head over heels after jamining on your brakes. I've even had one occassion while on my bike of a car passing me on the left, on the shoulder of the West Bay Road. Just amazing. Bus drivers who are stopped and then pull out in front of you whist you are abeam and passing them. And here's a middle finger to those dumptruck drivers who think it amusing to come up behind you and give a blast on their air horn. I am sure that all of us who use our bicycles have many many stories to tell of rude undiciplined automobile drivers.
Riding a bike in Cayman is sheer suicide.
There are a number of drivers who are absolutely stoopid and insane behinde the wheel.
And one of them is the Education Minister. Go figure. (oops, he prays so it is OK).
I hope they get this scumbag and he rots in jail.
and what of all the EXPENSIVE CCTV cameras on the west Bay road???
Why is it that evverytime something happens the first thing you people scream about is the CCTV system? Point in fact, in this case, the driver actually stopped, so he was dealt with by the police, but quit hollering about CCTV…you piss and moan about it being an invasion of your privacy, but the whenever something happens you all want to know why it wasn't caught on camera…make up ya minds..
After the 4 car + bus accident this morning, WHERE ARE THE SIGNS&EDUCATION to go along with the new West Bay Road Crossings??
Are the drivers/tourists all expected to know how these work — now there are crosswalk lines in place – but NO LIGHTS/SIGNS!!
Wake Up people!!
The lights don’t work and the sig s are covered in plastic.
They do not work.
NRA is incapable of getting them operating and have been at it for about six months.
This is the busy tourist two weeks of the year. I hope there are no more tourists killed because of this ineptitude.
The NRA does not answer to you…. They answer to K Dart
Looks like they really need to get an expat in there (temporarily of course) to get it working. Stop crying foul. Its all about skill and experiance and not race so just face up to it. Until a Caymanian can be found that can be trained to do it it is how things get done here.