Police have launched a new road safety operation to try to tackle dangerous driving over the Easter period.
The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service Traffic and Roads Policing Unit began the first phase of ‘Operation Clyro’, which is set to last two weeks, on Friday, 27 March.
Police say the aim of the campaign is to combat the types of driving behaviours that lead to loss of life on local roads, which tend to be busier than usual during the Easter holiday, as people take part in beach camping and other social activities.
Last Easter proved to be particularly dangerous for some road users. On Easter Monday, 21 April 2025, cyclist and father-of-three Per Undheim was killed while on a morning bike ride with a friend, who was also injured, when they were struck by a car in Bodden Town. During the same week, on 25 April, another cyclist, Demry Rankine, was seriously hurt, and remains in a coma, after being hit by a vehicle on South Church Street in George Town.
A press release issued by the RCIPS on 26 March noted that Operation Clyro forms part of the police’s “ongoing efforts to discourage poor driving behaviour by increasing enforcement in key areas of concern, including speeding and driving under the influence”.
Inspector Andrey Tahal, head of the RCIPS’s Traffic and Roads Policing Unit, said, “Operation Clyro is about saving lives. Too many of our collisions are preventable and come down to poor decisions behind the wheel. We will be actively stopping drivers and issuing tickets or making arrests where offences are identified.”
As the Cayman Compass reported this week, under current legislation, police in Cayman cannot carry out random roadside breath tests on drivers unless they can demonstrate a cause for doing so. Blanket random breath tests are cited by a number of countries as a strong deterrent to drink-driving.
In October 2022, Cayman amended the legal drink-driving limit, reducing it from 0.1% blood alcohol content to 0.07%, but that has not made much of a dent in the number of DUIs police are recording. For the whole year of 2022, police made 234 DUI arrests. The following year, 270 drivers were arrested for driving under the influence, and in 2024, 281 DUI were recorded. The statistics for 2025 have not yet been released.
Serious offence
The RCIPS reminded road users that operating a vehicle in a manner that endangers others is a serious offence under the Traffic Act.
Under that legislation, causing death by dangerous or reckless driving carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and disqualification from driving for at least five years. And for the offence of dangerous or reckless driving, if convicted, a motorist faces imprisonment for one year and/or a fine of $1,000, as well as being disqualified from driving for 12 months or more.
“As we move further into 2026, we remain committed to reducing dangerous driving behaviours,” Chief Superintendent Brad Ebanks said in the release. “We have seen far too many cases where actions such as driving under the influence or speeding, lead to the loss of lives on our roads.
“We continue to remind motorists to choose safe driving every time. In doing so, you keep yourself and fellow road users safe, while avoiding prosecution, fines, and potentially losing your licence.”
Police noted that Operation Clyro is part of the National Road Safety Strategy of ‘Safe Roads, Safe Cayman: The Road to Zero’ and is supported by the National Roads Authority, Department of Vehicles and Drivers’ Licensing and the Department of Communications.
The Road to Zero campaign, launched in 2023, aims to reduce road deaths in Cayman to zero by 2038.
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