Letter to the Editor

Steps we need to take to make Cayman's roads safer

Monday, January 5, 2004

Dear Sir,

There are two issues on our roads that are exercising my mind at the moment. One of these we have heard quite a lot about and one, absolutely nothing.

Issue 1. The Port area road closures: We have a problem with too many visiting pedestrians crossing a road that has too many hazards built into it. The location of the road junctions, the pedestrian crossings and numerous blind spots cause problems that have developed over the past years. 

We encourage visitors to come to our shores and shop. Few have any great experience of traffic driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, as they see it and having been at sea for a few days are mentally switched off.

Since there is absolutely no hope in changing these prime causes of the difficulty and we are unlikely to see alternative feeder routes into town and around the tourist hot-spot, what are we do? There is no future in complaining. So let's try a possible and much cheaper solution.

Why don't we have crossing wardens controlling the traffic and the pedestrians. We don't want these wardens to look officious. If they were dressed as pirates, in colourful costume, armed with a smile as well as a cutlass we could be providing a further photo opportunity. I am sure the police look down on the duty at present as being less important than other 'real' police work.

Issue 2. The Harquail by-pass: Currently we have a lane in each direction with a hard shoulder on each side. Observe the construction on one side and be amazed. Located just 5ft 8in from the carriageway are concrete blocks two feet square and one foot high. These concrete plinths are to be the bases for street lighting. Steel bolts coming out of the concrete will hold the lights in position. 

Our accident investigators know that every day vehicles are swerving more than eight to ten feet for many simple reasons; a tyre blowout for example. Any car hitting one of these blocks and/or the light poles at 40 mph would disembowel itself, and probably the occupants as well. 

Why couldn't the authorities have designed the system so that the concrete plinths are below the road surface and use alloy shear bolts for the poles, such that any vehicle hitting the light would demolish the pole and not itself? 

Initially I asked why they didn't put in the crash barrier before they put in the lighting. "We have no plans to put in crash barriers," was the reply.

Did they ever seek advice on the design and layout of this road 'improvement'? They certainly could not have listened to safety professionals at the Texas Transportation Institute or the TRL in England. 

I make a plea, could someone in authority please put a hold on this project until these safety issues are revisited.

Graham Walker

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