Wholesale changes to the Cayman Islands Traffic Law approved by lawmakers and signed by Governor Duncan Taylor late last year have not yet taken effect.
Not to worry, say officials with the Ministry of Works, which has overall responsibility for the matter and which led efforts to revamp the law last year; those changes are still coming.
The main hold-up, according to officials, is that regulations to accompany the law must be approved by Cabinet in order for most of the changes in the law to come into force.
“The regulations are being drafted and proofread now,” according to a statement from the ministry. “Once complete, it will be taken to Cabinet for consideration. Pending approval by Cabinet, the law and regulations will be brought into effect very shortly.”
In any case, the law, which contains changes including a partial ban on cell phone driving and the legalisation of electric-powered cars on Cayman’s roads, won’t be sprung on unsuspecting drivers, according to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.
“We have asked government for at least a two-week period (ahead of the hand-held cell phone ban taking effect),” RCIPS Chief Superintendent John Jones said earlier in the year. “So, whenever the Traffic Law does take effect we can warn drivers about the new rules.”
Mr. Jones said in the weeks prior to the new law going into the official books, police working traffic detail would give drivers information about the hand-held cell phone ban, how it works and what devices can and can’t be used. In some cases, motorists might even be stopped for driving while using a hand held cell phone; they just won’t get a ticket.
The proposed fine for driving with a hand held cell phone is $100 per ticket.
The Traffic Law now states a phone has to be “secured in a mounting affixed to the vehicle while the mobile telephone is being used”. It also requires the phone “does not require the pressing of more than one button on the mobile phone to make, receive or terminate a telephone call”.
Both these requirements have to be adhered to for mobile phone use to be legal while driving.
The bill does not make it an offence to call 911 on a hand-held cell phone to report an emergency to police, fire or ambulance crews. It also allows the use of hand-held phones in a vehicle that has been stopped and is out of the way of traffic; that does not include drivers who are backed up in traffic jams, at stop lights or stop signs.
One area of the new Traffic Law that has already been implemented is the requirement for driving tests for foreign drivers. Depending on where in the world the driver is from, they must take either a written test or a written and practical road test.
The law is essentially written so that it would not apply to tourists and nonresidents.
Another big change that has been practically placed into effect is a ban on clamping the wheels of vehicles that are illegally parked in public places.
The law states: “A person who operates as an agent for the clamping of vehicles in public places; or clamps or tows away a vehicle in a public place commits an offence.”
Related Videos
