Editorial
Safeguarding Our Roads
Apart from our many attractions, the CaymanIslands has a peculiar characteristic that sets its aside frommany other Caribbean countries.
Regrettably, it is not a trait which willengender any great sense of pride for anyone of us associatedwith this beautiful three-island country.
It is a very strange anomaly. In most otherCaribbean countries, the murder rate and crime rates are disturbinglyhigh when compared to the road fatalities.
On the contrary, the Cayman Islands is arelative safe haven where crime is virtually non-existant. However,the number of vehicular accidents and road fatalities are widelyregarded, certainly per capita, as being much too high.
To cut straight to the chase, more peopleare killed in the Cayman Islands in vehicular accidents than bya shot from a gun or a wound from a knife. This is not so in manyother countries in the world. It is a most untenable situation.
Far too many people's lives, many of themyoungsters, are being snuffed out on this country's road.
This is not a very comforting situationfor road users and it is certainly more traumatic for the familiesand loved ones, who, for the most part, are often left in deepshock asking and "why".
Each life that is lost on the road is onelife too many. Every single injury and death caused by drunk drivingis totally preventable.
Since, as the adage goes, "dead mentell no tales", one can only hypothesise about the root causesof many of the accidents on these roads.
It can hardly be disputed that drunk drivingremains a serious national problem that tragically affects thousandsof victims annually, in many countries the world over.
What is even more disturbing these daysis that many accidents, quite a few of them fatal, are being causedby people who are under the influence of substances other thanalcohol.
It is time to take stock and put the brakeson this irresponsible practice.
There can be no doubt that the Royal CaymanIslands Police Force has been doing a fantastic job at tryingto arrest this problem. However, it will be a rather tedious andfrustrating exercise for law enforcement officers to be drivingaround stopping every single vehicle and executing breathalizertests.
What is needed, and earnestly to be hopedfor, is more responsibility from those who get behind the wheel.
Drunk driving, like most other social problems,resists simple solutions. However, it is our view that there area number of actions, each of which can contribute toward a reductionof the problem.
Automatic license revocation appears tobe the single most effective measure to reduce drunk driving.It should be remembered that driving is a privilege, not a right.
Just as the authorities would not licensea blind person to drive, they should not hesitate to revoke thelicenses of those who lack the good judgment and common sensenot to drive drunk.
Having said that, there is only so muchthat law enforcement can do.
At the end of the day, the onus is on eachand every driver to be responsible.
If they exercise care, caution and commonsense,the life they save may be their very own.