228 collisions, 24 DUI arrests recorded during police holiday crackdown

A total of 228 collisions were recorded in the space of one month and 24 drunk drivers were apprehended as police concluded its ‘Operation Winter Guardian’ holiday safety exercise.

The numbers, shared with the Cayman Compass this week, were recorded between 2 Dec., 2021 and 2 Jan., 2022 and amounted to roughly seven collisions per day over that period, some of which were logged as hit-and-run accidents.

PC Athelston Watts, speaking on Compass Media’s Island Radio 98.9 FM Island Vibe Morning Show with Zosia & Rico on Tuesday, lamented the increase in collisions and errant drivers on local roadways.

“We had just about 24 DUIs, which is 24 too much. We had just about 30 persons being arrested for driving unqualified or disqualified drivers. We issued a total of 268 speeding tickets, which is extremely expensive,” he said.

He said officers “don’t take pleasure in just prosecuting people” for the sake of it, but there needs to be a greater level of driver responsibility on local roads.

 

Operation Winter Guardian stats

228 reports of collisions

24  DUIs
268 Speeding tickets
250 Excessive tint tickets
149 tickets for expired registration
30 warned for intended prosecution for unqualified/ disqualified driving
51 tickets for use of mobile phones

“If persons are responsible enough to commit [offences] and we catch them, we are going to prosecute them,” Watts said.

He also lamented the rise in hit-and-run collisions that were also recorded during Operation Winter Guardian.

Watts appealed for the public to come forward with information on these incidents.

Hit and run a concern

He also pleaded for witnesses to last August’s hit and run in George Town, which left one woman seriously injured, to come forward.

“The person took off, or persons who were driving the vehicle, and she’s still in the hospital. She’s absolutely not responding to anything or anyone. She is a mother, she is a wife. She has other family members. It could be your family member. It could be anyone’s family member and the perpetrators are still out there. Someone knows who was driving that vehicle that hit her,” he said.

Head of the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit Inspector Dwayne Jones, in an RCIPS statement, said that the increase in hit-and-run incidents on the road is “concerning”.

“Not only is it highly irresponsible to leave the scene of an incident, particularly if people are injured, but there can be serious consequences if you are found to have ‘hit-and-run’,” added Jones.

Police, in their round-up of the exercise, said they were pleased to report a decrease in serious incidents compared to the same period last year, and another holiday season with no traffic fatalities.

“Even though these numbers are a positive move in the right direction, it doesn’t take away from the fact that already, in the first week of the new year, police have attended a serious collision on Monday (3 Jan), resulting in three persons being taken to hospital, with one still in a critical condition. Followed by a fatality on Thursday (6 Jan.), where a man succumbed to his injuries and a women remains in critical condition in hospital,” Jones added.

He thanked the public for showing greater restraint and caution when driving, “and for prioritising alternate ways to get home when out drinking, particularly over New Year’s Eve night, Friday 31^st December”.

RCIPS Media Relations Officer Jodi-Ann Powery, who also appeared on the radio with Watts, said though criminal incidents were limited, she did lament that there were some violent altercations over the holiday period.

“We did have a few incidents that were alcohol-associated, a few wounding and affrays in bars… bar fights and that kind of stuff that we know usually occur when people are overly intoxicated…. not being in control of themselves,” Powery said.