Despite the best efforts of the Cayman Islands government it appears the country’s planned graduated licensing programme for young drivers will be delayed again.
The programme was made part of the island’s Traffic Law in March 2005. A previously planned implementation date of 1 January, 2007 had to be pushed back because of problems in the section of the law that dealt with driving instruction.
A new deadline to have the programme up and running was set for 1 July.
The latest hold up appears to be in getting qualified driving instructors.
‘We hope (it) will be resolved shortly,’ said Works and Infrastructure Minister Arden McLean. ‘We realise we don’t have anyone to teach graduated drivers. That is an area that (the Ministry’s Deputy Chief Officer of Policy and Planning) Mr. Perry Powell is looking into right now.’
Graduated licensing is a step-by-step programme that young drivers would have to complete prior to earning a full driving licence.
After taking a written test to earn a Teenage Learner’s Licence, young drivers would be given a certain amount of time to clock road hours with a qualified professional driving instructor.
Mr. McLean has previously said two types of instruction would be required before young drivers could graduate to a full licence. One could be done with a parent, relative or friend who was of proper age; the other would involve more formalised teaching.
It’s unclear whether the parental instruction time is still going to be required when the graduated licensing programme is finalised.
‘We have started the process of training the trainer,’ Mr. McLean said. ‘We brought in people out of England to train some police officers who would test the (graduated drivers licensing) instructors. But that has not been completed yet, so we’re trying to push on that as quickly as possible.’
Mr. McLean wasn’t sure whether the 1 July date for the start of the graduated licensing programme is still feasible.
‘It will start then….if we can get this training in place and we’re satisfied that those people are competent enough to train these young drivers.’
Others said that’s unlikely to happen.
Co-Chairman of the MattSafe road safety committee Wiekert Weber recently told the Caymanian Compass that the issues with the graduated licensing programme will not be resolved by 1 July.
Mr. Weber’s colleague at MattSafe, Aileen Samuel, also said it was impossible for any credible programme for young drivers to be completed in the next few weeks.
‘We would like it to be done, but we want it to be done in a professional manner,’ Ms Samuel said.
Mr. Weber said MattSafe, which helps educate young drivers on safety behind the wheel, had sent a letter to Minister McLean urging him to have a significant number of qualified driving instructors by the end of this year.
Ms Samuel said a January 2008 deadline for the graduated driver’s licensing programme seemed more realistic.
The issue of driver training, particularly for young drivers, has been top of mind for many in Cayman since late last year when a series of deadly crashes involving teens or people in their early 20’s shook up the country.
Of the eight people who have died on Cayman Islands roads since December, just one has been over the age of 25. The other seven car accident victims included three teenagers, two 20 year olds, a 21 year-old and a 25 year-old.
Related Videos
