The insanity of Cayman's 'road-racers'

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

There is little doubt that the issue of speeding on our roads has become a primary concern to everyone. From the police to parents the country is worried about our exceptionally high death rate as a result of dangerous driving.

Many drivers are concerned about the high number of 'speedsters' that are using our single lane, narrow roads as race tracks, and not only putting themselves in danger but every other driver on the road.

At a recent community police meeting in Bodden Town, Stuart Kernohan, the Police Commissioner told parents that they need to talk to their teenage children about speeding and the dangers of reckless driving.

He said that while the police can do so much in terms of stopping reckless drivers, he wanted parents to take responsibility for how their children are driving on the roads.

However, while many young drivers are certainly perpetrators of excessive speeds on the roads, there are plenty of drivers who are well past their teenage years that are also taking their lives in their hands every time they get behind the wheel.

It is likely that everyone on this Island can tell a story of hair-raising incidents that they have witnessed on the road, and there are few times when most law abiding drivers won't find themselves shaking their heads in amazement at the behaviour of some on our highways at least once when they set out in their vehicles.

Steven Hall Jones, aka the Major, Cayman Net News' regular columnist, yesterday, Monday 19 June, threw down the gauntlet to these reckless drivers and said he would be naming and shaming every driver he witnessed on the road speeding or driving dangerously.

We wholeheartedly support the Major in his endeavour and we are on the point of asking our readers to join in this battle, and declare their experiences for publication, but before that we implore everyone to report every incident with as much description of the vehicles involved as possible to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, (RCIPS).

The incidents are now so common place that our roads have become exceptionally dangerous.

Day after day we all witness drivers who overtake at incredible speeds in dangerous blind spots merely to advance a few yards and to be forced to slow down again for one reason or another.

We see risks of unbelievable proportions being taken by drivers young and old all over the islands from Bodden Town road to the West Bay Road.

All our highways are becoming desperately unsafe purely because of individual drivers who have little if any regard for other road users.

The police cannot do it alone and Mr Kernohan is right to tell parents to warn their children that excessive speeding can and does kill.

But we must all do our part to rid the roads of what appears to be a growing number of 'road-racers'.

If as the Major suggests these people are named and shamed and more importantly brought to the attention of the authorities; fined and their licenses revoked, we will get these fools off our roads and the law abiding driver can return to the highways and byways of this country in safety.

We have no alternative but to support the police in their campaign and ensure we alert them to every reckless driver we see and a hotline number is needed for reporting incidents as efficiently as possible.

With the first almost 100 speeders hauled in front of the courts recently we can see that making Cayman's roads safe again is not going to be easy, but with a national effort we can, and for the sake of all who drive here, must succeed.

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