Twenty-five traffic collisions including one fatality last weekend and the death toll rolls on. More tragic is the heartbreaking death and serious injury to innocent victims – husbands, wives and children.
It is so regularly reported year after year, there is a danger that it is becoming accepted as a fact of life. “It’s everyone’s job to help keep our roads safe,” says Chief Inspector Malcolm Kay. Words are not enough. Speed kills, and Cayman needs to introduce speed cameras.
Those that ignore speed limits do so because there is minimal fear of being caught. Speed cameras produce the certainty of being caught, fined, and possibly losing your licence.
Cameras save lives. UK research showed that cameras reduced accidents by 17-39% and fatalities by 58-68% in speed locations. Police standing at roadside radar traps can be redeployed to fight crime. Government revenue from fines would be substantially increased. There will, of course, be a capital equipment cost and the need for a software system that identifies the car owner – a cost to balance against lives that would be saved. Speed cameras are everywhere in the UK, and drivers have learned to obey the speed limits. We are a small island, and the speeding locations are obvious. The time for national debate is over.
It is time that the RCIPS replaced words with action and introduced proposals to do the same here.
Graham Morse
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Cameras, fines, points deductions are clearly the only way to control the ever increasing speeding on Cayman’s roads. It is high time for the police to publicly respond as there efforts so far have failed.
Richard Sigsworth