The tragic death of 22-year-old Channah Connor was the last straw for Spotts resident Sophie Miles, who has called for urgent action to make Cayman’s roads safer as she declared “enough is enough”.
Miles, with the support of a group of neighbours along Shamrock Road, launched a petition Tuesday which she hopes will spur local authorities to deal with the “danger” road users face.
“We don’t want this to become a problem like school shootings in America or police brutality [there] where you just become numb… where you just don’t notice them, become complacent or become desensitised,” she told the Cayman Compass in a telephone interview.
Connor was killed in the early hours of Sunday morning when she lost control and crashed into a wall near Miles’s home.
In the aftermath of that fatal collision, Miles knew she could no longer stay silent.
Too many lives are being lost on Cayman’s roads, she said, and sending “thoughts and prayers” to families is not good enough.
“Putting some flowers down where this accident happened isn’t enough. It won’t stop it happening again,” she said, adding that a better police presence to flag and address bad driving might change things.
Miles, who works in real estate and operates from her home, said every day she hears sirens, screeches or, sometimes, crashes nearby which is distressing.
“I had my brother and family come and visit over Easter and I was really worried about them pulling in and off the road and even crossing the road to Spotts Beach. It is very precarious and that’s why I went into such detail in the petition,” Miles said.
Call to action
She said the group of residents, who have been talking about doing something to address this issue, either personally knew someone affected by these collisions or were simply horrified by the crashes.
“We can’t call them accidents when they keep on happening and nobody does anything about it. These fatalities do not need to happen,” she said.
The petition, which has already collected 215 signatures, is calling for government to “act now” to install traffic-calming measures and enforce road safety.
In the petition, Miles says that residents on and off the almost “2 mile ‘Spotts Straight’ are affected daily when they have to deal with the fast pace of traffic and dysfunctional driving, as do the tens of thousands of people coming to and from the Eastern districts”.
Therefore, she is asking for the RCIPS to enforce traffic laws and increase police presence in the area.
The petition also calls on the National Roads Authority and Department of Planning to implement traffic-calming measures including, but not limited to, “reducing the speed limit from 40mph to 30mph, speed check cameras, rumble strips, possible mini round-about in a key Crown-owned location to shorten the ‘racetrack’.”
The Compass has reached out to both the NRA and RCIPS, as well as Premier Wayne Panton, the MP for Newlands, for comment; we are awaiting responses.
Multiple issues
The petition also asked for the Public Transport Board to improve bus service and “decrease outrageous taxi rates to make it more affordable for those in the Eastern districts”.
Additionally, it is calling for the Department of Tourism to provide “better traffic and pedestrian access when ships are in Spotts Dock/Landing and address the dangers facing tourists and locals when exiting Spotts Beach”.
“It’s not just one issue,” Miles told the Compass. “I wanted to address all of these issues and all of the people that have control in the issue… all of those different government departments because clearly, as a population, we’re just not responsible enough to get behind the wheel of a dangerous vehicle or we become dangerous if we’re not driving it correctly.”
Miles said she would like to take the petition to Panton; Health Minister and Prospect MP Sabrina Turner; and the NRA and have these measures eventually brought to Cabinet to be implemented.
“The hot spot is Soto Lane. The neighbour that lived opposite there had offered to pay to put up a speed camera; the NRA did not take her up on the offer,” she said, pointing out that it is not a funding issue if the private sector was willing to pay for it.
She said she had cut down on her morning walks because of her fear of bad driving in the area, but when she does go out the road is often littered with broken car parts from collisions.
Miles said one of her neighbours had suggested that the middle ‘faster’ lane be changed to a turning lane because of the difficulties residents face exiting and entering their roads along that stretch.
However, the NRA said they could not do that.
“They did put ‘hidden lane’ signs up in the area, but that really did not make any difference to the dangers that we face; drivers still speed,” she said.
Related Videos
