UPDATE: Stay Alive – Eleven arrested

From RCIPS Dec 2 2013 1:02pm

Eleven people were arrested this weekend as part of the RCIPS festive road safety initiative – Stay Alive.

Eight of the arrests were in relation to driving under the influence, two for disqualified driving and one for driving without being qualified.

Superintendent Adrian Seales, the man leading the campaign, is disappointed that so many people chose to ignore the warnings of the police. “ How many times do we have to tell people that they will be caught,” he said. “Drinking and driving is endemic on this Island. How hard can it be to designate a driver, or make alternative arrangements to get home? We are lucky that no-one was seriously injured, or worse, as a result of this stupid behaviour. In addition, do people who have either been disqualified or who aren’t qualified to drive honestly believe that they will get away with it? Being disqualified means that you have been caught, prosecuted and found guilty of a previous offence – clearly some people just don’t learn. It’s disgraceful and downright dangerous. People may not care about their own safety – but what does this say about how little they regard the safety of innocent road users?”

The annual RCIPS festive road safety drive – ‘Stay Alive’ – began on Friday 29 November and runs right through the New Year until 5 January 2014.

Updates will be provided on a weekly basis (Monday).

Original story

By Janet Dougall, RCIPS

Six people have lost their lives on Cayman’s roads this year and the [Royal Cayman Islands Police Service] RCIPS is calling on all road users to play their part in ensuring that no other family experiences the tragedy of prematurely burying a loved one in 2013.

The annual RCIPS festive road safety drive – ‘Stay Alive’ – begins on Friday 29 November and runs right through the New Year until 5 January 2014.

Drink driving, speeding, cellphone driving and failing to wear seatbelts are just a few of the traffic offences which will be targeted by RCIPS officers over the coming weeks in a bid to reduce deaths and injuries on Cayman’s roads. Using a combination of education and zero-tolerance enforcement to challenge dangerous driving behaviour, road checks and  high visibility patrols in the vicinity of licensed premises will be commonplace. In addition, targeted operations will take place throughout the campaign period to detect those who drink and drive, commit traffic offences or use the roads for criminal purposes.

“Road safety education and enforcement is a 24 hours a day, seven day a week priority for the RCIPS,” said Superintendent Adrian Seales. “As the festive season fast approaches and people start planning parties and family get-togethers, now is an ideal time to remind people about the need to stay safe on the roads, and not to drink and drive. We urge people to make sure that having a designated driver, booking a cab, or employing a pick -up service such as ‘Home Safe’ is a priority and forms part of their festive planning .

“Unfortunately too many people still get behind the wheel of their vehicles after drinking, putting their own lives and the lives of innocent road users in danger. It’s time for people to take responsibility for their actions – so join with us to ensure that the festive season is a time for celebration, not a time for mourning.

“We want everyone to have fun, but to do it responsibly. Don’t speed, don’t use your phone whilst driving, remember to buckle up and do not drink and drive!”

This year to date, 181 (one hundred and eighty-one)  people have been arrested in relation to drink driving, 734 ( seven hundred and thirty-four) speeding tickets have been issued, 1205 ( one thousand, two hundred and five) have been ticketed for cell phone driving and 560 ( five hundred and sixty) have been found not to be wearing seatbelts. Of the seatbelt offences almost ten percent of those tickets were issued to drivers because they had children, under the age of 14, in their vehicles who were not secured by a seatbelt. In terms of road crashes 882 ( eight hundred and eighty-two) collisions have been reported, of these 22 (twenty-two) resulted in serious injury and 6 (six) were fatal.

During last year’s festive safety campaign, which ran from 30 November – 4 January,  33 (thirty-three) people were arrested for DUI, 98  (ninety-eight) were ticketed for not wearing seatbelts, 54 (fifty-four) people were found to be using their cellphone whilst driving and 137 ( one hundred and thirty-seven) speeding tickets were issued. In addition the five week campaign saw 138 ( one hundred and thirty-eight) road crashes reported.