Pedestrian crossings marked by orange flashing lights should be replaced with UK and US-style “green man” traffic lights, a woman who witnessed the grim aftermath of a roads death at the weekend has said.
Alyson Mora left the Palm Heights hotel just after Paulo Pillas, a bartender at the hotel, and a co-worker were struck by a white Dodge pick-up truck as they pushed a trolley over a pedestrian crossing on West Bay Road.
Pillas, who was 37, was pronounced dead at the scene by a doctor. The other staff member, who has not been identified, was said to have suffered serious injuries, but was later discharged from hospital.
The driver of the truck was arrested at the scene on suspicion of drink driving.
The incident happened at the crossing outside the hotel at about midnight on 13 Sept.
Mora, who was at an event in the hotel, said she comforted a friend who had seen the impact and called emergency services.
She added, “I came down pretty soon after it happened. It was a friend who called 911 and she was super cut up about it.”
Mora said the present system of orange flashing lights at either side of a crossing was not good enough.
“I think it’s so dangerous. Even in the daytime, I’ve seen a lot near misses with cars screeching to a halt,” she said. “I don’t think it’s safe for the cars and I don’t think it’s safe for the pedestrians.”
With the current crosswalk system, people often press the button on the pole for the lights to start blinking and then immediately start crossing.
“Cars can be going at normal speed and have to stop suddenly, so cars can easily go into the back of them,” Mora said. “I really want to do something to upgrade the crossing to the safe type. The ones with the ‘green man’ that don’t expect traffic to stop so abruptly.”
Pillas’s sister was making the sad journey to Cayman from the Philippines on Tuesday 16 Sept. to take the body of the father-of-one back to their homeland for burial.
Freshy Vales, Pillas’s girlfriend, who also works in Cayman, said on Facebook, “He was a great son, a devoted father, a hardworking employee, a loving partner, a dear friend, and a brother to many.”
Leonardo Mariotti, the general manager of Palm Heights, said the hotel’s staff were still in shock.
“Paulo was a universally loved and respected member of our team,” he said. “He came to work with a smile and he will be missed by all of us. He was a heck of a guy, always smiling and always willing to help people.
“We are all devastated. There is no other way to describe it. It was so sudden.”
A fundraiser to help cover Pillas’s family’s expenses and help support his son has been set up. Mariotti said 100 per cent of donations would go to the family as all fees had been waived.
The donations page can be found at https://paulo-fundraiser.caymangateway.online/.
Pillas’s death is the fourth fatality on the roads so far this year. The total death toll for last year was 14.
The government unveiled its ‘RoadtoZero’ initiative, a campaign that aims to reduce the number of collisions on local roads over the next 14 years, last March.
The main targets in the Cayman Islands National Road Safety Strategy 2023-2038 are to reduce road fatalities by 30% by 2028 and to eradicate them altogether by 2038.
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Nothing wrong with the flashing lights. It’s the crazy, inconsiderate driving that’s the problem. Also pedestrians who, apparently, have never been taught to look both ways before you cross.
There are thousands on zebra crossings in London. They don’t usually have flashing lights at all. But as soon as I even approach them almost 100% of cars will stop.
The West Bay Road in that section is 25 mph, there’s no reason why that car couldn’t have stopped, except for inattention or perhaps alcohol.
A horrible tragedy. May the poor victim and his family and friends find Peace.
As a frequent visitor, I find the crosswalks and flashing lights fairly effective when driving, but there is always room for improvement. Perhaps more overhead flashing lights out over the street more?
I’ve seen numerous instances of pedestrians pressing the button and immediately stepping on the crossing. I don’t know what happened in this instance, but I always ensure that vehicles are either slowing down to stop or have actually stopped before I step on any crossing. I’m not saying that Mr. Pillas did anything wrong, and sometimes we just need to take extra care to protect ourselves from becoming victims.
Sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Pillas.
I’ve often observed that the lights at pedestrian crossings are too close to the crossing, as the witness to this accident stated. Sometime ago I made comment to that effect on a CNS’ anonymous forum and received return comments berating my logic. Comments focused on the carelessness of pedestrians or motorists.
Simply, I was arguing that by nature some people press the button on the light an immediately step on the crossing. This does not give a vehicle enough time to stop, even at the prescribed 25 mph speed limit.
Placing the light a bit farther from the crossing would give a few moments for the pedestrian to step back to the crossing, thus allowing a motorist more time to react.
Road safety isn’t all to do with how the users use the facilities. Many times, the design of the facilities can contribute to unsafe use. I could identify a few locations I see everyday between WB and GT. In fact, when Mr. Austin Harris was an MP, I shared some observations with him. I believe he passed them on to the relevant parties as I saw one location receive corrective attention. Years prior, I’d written ex WB MP McKeeva Bush about some of the same road safety issues. Many still exist.
But, like many other NRA design failures and almost everything else in the public service, things have to be done two or three time to come close to being correct.
We often joke that common sense doesn’t appear to be that common. It could be said that logic doesn’t appear to exist in the public sector.
All the blame seems to be placed on the traffic lights. The driver was arrested “on suspicion of “drink driving” does this translate to failing the breathalyser test?. If so, he seems to be the primary cause of this dreadful accident, not the traffic lights.
This is a tragic on many levels. I would like the employers of both these individuals to take some accountability as well. Their employees should not have to cross a major road at night to dump garbage. Granted, West Bay Road is not I95 but it is still one of the Islands main “Highways” and no employee should have to cross a main road at night or during the day to discard rubbish.
This occurs nightly at this establishment and I honestly hope that now things will change. Employees deserve to be safe no matter who the employer.