Cops arrest 100s over non-payment of traffic tickets
(CNS): Well over 300 arrest warrants have been issued in the last four months for people who have failed to pay traffic tickets or turn up to court to contest the accusations of traffic violations. Police said Thursday that over 27% of all of the tickets issued since the new Traffic Law came into force last September have not been paid and as a result 313 arrest warrants have been issued for non-payment of traffic fines. The RCIPS said motorists had a responsibility to paying their fines on time and Chief Inspector Angelique Howell pointed out that the conditions of payment are prominently displayed on all traffic tickets issued by the officers.
Encouraging people who receive tickets to read them carefully to fully understand the implications of failing to comply with the conditions she said, “The ticket can be paid any time up to 10am on the date cited on the ticket. This date is three weeks from the date of issue.”
Howell has also issued an instruction to officers to further emphasise to offenders the need to comply with the payment terms and court date cited. “Anyone who fails to pay the ticket, or wishes to contest it, must appear in traffic court on the date cited,” she added. “Failure to pay or appear will result in the issue of an arrest warrant. The issue of such a warrant has serious implications for the offender as he or she will be arrested and immediately brought before the courts to be dealt with.”
Category: Crime
It could be that the new traffic law is aimed more at raising revenue for the Government, than at improving road safety.
If so, then people have the right to question tickets they receive, delay payment, or refuse payment.
Are the fines related to unsafe driving or merely to provisions in the law to hook otherwise safe drivers? Do the police really keep their equipment calibrated within 1 mph? Is the number of accidents linear with speed increases or exponential?
The old traffic law doubled the fine for every 10 mph over the speed limit, which is exponential and much more related to reality
The Cayman people certainly do not need another Government revenue increasing law. What they need is a police force that can stop the real criminals. Not one to harass honest and good people
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Speeding doesn’t kill, advertising does!
Oh, let me go back to sleep now…
Is this the first time any action has been taken for non-paymant of parking tickets? If so. why?
You know things are bad when your MLA refuses to pay your traffic ticket.
Third world! Your learning now! Hopefully your kids will be able to do better.
YOU'RE learning. Sheesh. Hopefully YOUR kids will do better.
Last time I checked Cayman's population was near 50/50 in terms of Caymanians / expats.
Anyway, no sense arguing with racist individuals who find it necessary to bring nationality and culture into a discussion of traffic tickets.
And here I thought that there weren't enough court rooms – when it comes to government grabbing money, guess there's always more room… Unfortunately, this means that more serious cases will be ignored. In any other country that would be a problem – not in the Cayman Islands though, given that 90% of the serious cases are lost anyway due to police and prosecutorial incompetence.
The problem is too many criminals. Big time and small time. Typical of third world countries. Please teach your children a better way and help solve many of Caymans problems.
Some of or problems are imported. Once upon a time, where I live was peaceful and quiet. Now it is like all hell has broken loose, only because of the infiltration of importees. They bring their bad habits with them. It is useless to complain, when they are taken care of by their own.
One cannot believe how the bad influence has mixed and spread around in the communities.
Amazing, why is everyone on here bitching about this?
If you get a fine, it means you were breaking the law. If you break the law and get caught, you get punished, either with fines or prison. If you do not pay your fines, you are also breaking the law and deserve further punishment!!
I bet the people on here slamming this are the same ones that demand the RCIPS do something more about catching offenders. RCIPS did, and if you noticed they are getting more active.
Message is simple here:
DONT SPEED
DONT TALK ON YOUR MOBILE OR SMS WHILST DRIVING
WEAR YOUR SEATBELT AND MAKE YOUR KIDS/PASSENGERS WEAR THEIRS
DONT DRINK AND DRIVE
MAKE SURE YOUR CAR IS SAFE AND LEGAL
DONT DRIVE CARELESSLY
For those that do not understand, these laws are not there to produce revenue for CIG. They are the same laws that most of the world has because it has been proven many times over that DOING the above causes accidents and loss of life, whilst NOT DOING it means much less risk.
Oh, and to the "it will never happen to me brigade", it does, and will happen eventually, and I hope to God that it is you the lawbreaker that is injured or dies and some not poor innocent bystander.
Friday rant over, have a good and safe one everyone!
Not bitching, just think that it can be handled differently – don't pay your tickets, don't get to renew your license. Get caught driving without license, get put in jail for a long time… Arresting people for unpaid tickets is ghetto justice – I never heard of getting arrested for an unpaid ticket in Canada, Europe, etc…
We speed because we need to get to work becuase we have NO MONEY
We dont pay the tickets because we have NO MONEY
We are sent to court because we have NO MONEY
And we get locked up because we have NO MONEY.
The enonomy goes up (gas prices, airline tickets, food etc) paychecks are cut, and we are left with NO MONEY……
How does that work?
Its impossible to read if the tickets are handed out by officers who can not write..
Making criminals out of citizens to generate revenue
Breaking the law makes them criminals. You have a choice. Blame yourself and be accountable, or blame anyone else and stay third world. Your fighting a loseing battle. Cayman is slowly starting to grow up so keep up or get run over.
Oh dear, don't raise the concepts of responsibility or accountability in Cayman.
More accurately making criminals out of people who have broken the law and then failed to pay their fines. Hardly 1984 or Pol Pot is it?
Shameful cash grab
arrest warrants differ from "ARRESTS" fyi, just a little fyi cns, fyi…
Government needs money!!
The Islands need a Government.
This country need certified drivers. I could issue 2000 traffic violations… daily just for drivers failing to use their turn indicators.
The crooked traffic department has to stop issuing drivers license just to put revenue in the government hands ….. this is so discusting! its no wonder we are considered a third world…banana…republic country.
And 27% of our motoring public evidently don't have it to give them. We can all safely blame our beloved premier for both situations.