Road deaths hit record high as 14 lives lost to date

Cayman has recorded 14 road deaths to date in 2022, the highest number of fatalities over the last six years, and Deputy Police Commissioner Kurt Walton is appealing to the community to exercise due care while driving to prevent any more loss of lives.

Walton, speaking in the 30 Nov. episode of the Cayman Compass Facebook talkshow ‘The Resh Hour’, lamented the lost of lives, saying there are a lot of families in pain.

“We have had 14 persons to lose their lives this year so far from 13 road traffic collisions. It’s really sad, it’s tragic and it’s really heartbreaking for the families of those 14 lives… they’re left behind with just the trauma and to deal with the that those situations. It is an astronomical figure on our roads. It is… the highest that we’ve had since 2016,” he said.

Most of the collisions happened on local roads; however, one of those 14 deaths, that of motorcyclist Kashwayne McKenzie, occurred at a private race track during an event.

At the end of 2021, nine fatalities were recorded, and this year, at the end of November, that figure was more than 50% higher.

Walton pointed out that he wanted the community to look at the number of lives lost over the last six years as a matter of concern, especially when they get behind the wheel.

“The figure [of] 65 [deaths] that is what I want us to be thinking about right now… since 2016. That’s really a lot of families that have had a traumatic experience in their lives,” he said.

DUIs remain an issue

Though a new drink-drive limit of .07% has been introduced, drivers are still getting into their vehicles intoxicated, Walton said.

“We’ve had 202 DUI arrests… it’s really staggering… 80 of those were as a result of a road traffic collision… so a direct result of drunk driving. That’s a representation of 40% of our DUI arrests and if you think about the dangers in that… some of those involved multiple vehicles,” Walton said.

In one case, he added, there was a six vehicle pile-up as a result of a drunk driver.

“We need to change the culture… throughout these three islands in terms of drinking and driving,” he said.

Since the enactment of the new drink limits on 20 Oct., there have been three arrests with drivers recording blood-alcohol levels between 0.85% and 0.90%.

However, overall there have been 29 arrests since October for drunk driving, with some drivers three times over the old limit, which was concerning, he said.

Walton also addressed public comments over why Bodden Town West MP Dwayne Seymour was not breathalysed after he was involved in a single-vehicle crash on his way home on 29 Oct.

He said that the law does not call for mandatory breathalysing of a driver after every crash and it is up to an officer’s assessment if testing is warranted.

In Seymour’s case, Walton said, the officer spoke to him and did not smell alcohol on his breath, he was steady on his feet and his speech was not slurred. These factors, he said, are what officers use to determine whether a person is under the influence and should be breathalysed.

He said having a mandatory policy of testing would be something to consider, but the reality is it takes resources, equipment and more trained officers to make that happen.

“There’s some logistics behind it. But I certainly will not rule that out. It is something we can look at and see how that would impact operationally. But the most important bit [is] we are looking to sustain the safety of motorists on our roads and just being vigilant, and the enforcement of our DUI legislation,” Walton added.

Collisions continue to climb

He said the number of collisions occurring on a small island such as Cayman is “alarming”, as crashes have crossed the 2,400 mark for the year to date.

Walton said the collision figure of 2,447 was a matter of grave concern for the RCIPS.
Last year, crashes totalled 2,633 and, with a month to go in 2022, he is calling on drivers to do the right thing.

Walton pointed out that when one looks further back, the reality of the scale of collisions here is disturbing.

“There’s an average of 7.5 road traffic collisions per day that we experience here in the Cayman Islands. So just think about that for a moment – over the past six years we’ve had 16,500, that’s a whole lot of road traffic collisions,” he said.

Sergeant Lenford Butler, of the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit, who also appeared on the show, said he wanted drivers to remember safety first when they are on the roads this holiday season and every day.

“Take advantage of the purple ribbon [buses], the public transport and everything, so that at the end of the day they will arrive safely home. We want them to arrive alive, not to be in the hospital at the end of the day, because one of the things we realise is that 90% of accidents usually happen when you’re close to home… that’s the time the person is going to be relaxed and sometimes that’s the time they fall asleep,” he added.

He also urged drivers to exercise extra caution when on wet roads as, just recently, after a torrential downpour, 16 crashes were recorded in a matter of hours.

Walton added, when conditions change, drivers have to adjust their speed and the space between vehicles.

On a wet road, he said, “You don’t have the traction you would have had otherwise on a dry surface. So we do see the figures double or triple on some occasions [on wet roads,] he said.