Reporting dangerous drivers to the police
Who should we call if we see dangerous driving on the roads and would like to report the licence plate?
Auntie’s answer: There are two possibilities depending on the timing of the event, a police spokesperson explained. If you see an incident on the road taking place and “you believe that the driver and vehicle are a danger to the public then and there”, then you are advised to call 911 and immediately report it.
Not surprisingly, traffic infractions are considered “strict liability offences”, which means the person either committed the act or did not, so it makes sense that an officer would usually have to see the offence being committed in order to act on it.
But if the possible dangerous driving has already occurred, you can still report it to the police. In that instant, an officer can follow up by speaking to the alleged offender and possibly deal with him or her. You can call any of the police stations, and their contact numbers are below:
George Town: 949-4222
West Bay: 949-3999
Bodden Town: 947-2220
Cayman Brac: 948-0331
Little Cayman: 948-0100
If an incident is reported to the police after the fact, for any action to be taken, you (or anyone else) will have to provide a statement outlining what took place. However, if during the investigation it is discovered that the report was made maliciously, that person may be arrested for making a false report or statement to the police. I would hope that would deter anyone from fabricating an offence to deliberately get someone in trouble.
One other point: While I appreciate it would be difficult for the police to determine liability after the fact, it is still worth making a report about dangerous driving so at the very least an officer can talk to the alleged offender and possibly prevent a repeat occurrence. The RCIPS spokesperson agreed and added, “We appreciate such reports regardless of the outcome.”
Category: Ask Auntie, Traffic Questions
The RCIP does nothing to stop people from doing things illegal and dangerous. The other day (one of the many examples of illegal road activities I see) while shopping at Fosters Countryside my husband and I saw a taxi cab parked on the sidewalk. I watched as the police car came around twice and still nothing was done. When my husband was leaving the store he saw the woman who operated the taxi and spoke to her about it saying it’s not safe for pedestrians and that there are other parking available. She said that there wasn’t one close enough and took it upon herself to make a spot. He mentioned that he and his wife and under one year old had to park all the way by the pet store in the rain which while inconvenient it was still the way things are to be properly done and we can’t make the rules. Of course he got cursed out and told to mind his business and when he mentioned it to the cops inside they said sure we are dealing with it. Nothing of the sort happened. We can’t make up the road rules to suit ourselves but yet it happens everywhere and that’s because the police are not enforcing the rules. Of course you call the taxi company to complain but they don’t care as well. We know people don’t care and are thinking about themselves and for those who want to be above the rules that’s why we have the police. Please do something about this RCIPs because the few that do speak out can’t do your job. I guess we are to just mind our business and keep our mouth shut in the meantime and walk in the road cause the pedestrian side walks are taken.
This is total baloney. The RCIPs does not respond. I have even sent them dashcam videos and received ZERO response. This is just lipservice.
I called them once to report a dirt bike driving dangerously and pullies wheelies up and down the road I live on. There response ‘yeh we know about it’ that was it, nothing else no patrol car dispatched, nothing. To this day the same offender does this almost daily because he knows the cops won’t come.
MOre than that, the offender has a youTube channel with the videos that anyone can go and see.
if you report a car driving dangerously on walkers road to the police, do you think by the time you make that report, and they call out a patrol car, and the patrol car gets to walkers road, THAT the car you reported will still be there, driving dangerously? So report it, BUT DO NOT GET MAD AT THE POLICE. at that point it becomes a wild goose chase. Cause what will they be chasing, a phone call report of car thats already gone.
What about reporting dangerous driving by the police – it is depressingly common and the offending officers get aggressive & threaten retaliation when their law-breaking is pointed out to them.
Are dash camera videos of the offences sufficient for the police to take action? If so, I will start sending my recordings to the police at the end of each day. You can’t go half a mile here without seeing someone break a traffic law.
What a load of rubbish. ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Careless’ driving are subjective offenses: a police officer has to be able to declare, under oath, that IN HIS OPINION, the conduct of the vehicle was such as to meet the criteria for one of those designations.
The unsupported opinion of one officer alone may well be insufficient to obtain a conviction.
The subjective nature of these offenses means that the opinion of an ordinary member of the public is irrelevant. What appears ‘dangerous’ to one person may seem normal to another.
The most regular dangerous driving – among a catalog that our police can’t seem to regularly discern or witness:
Racing jack-braking dump trucks that fail to yield to ROW, unsecured loads of all kinds, speeding, racing, and stunt driving, clogging meandering high drivers going half or less than two thirds of posted speed limit, unsafe lefthand traffic merging across two lanes of inbound hwy traffic, lane drifting and cutting of corners esp traffic circle exits, random full-stops at roundabouts where there is no traffic to yield to, failures to indicate, failures to stop at stop signs (less than a third of Camana Bay traffic stops at the three stop signs on Market St), failures to accelerate when its clear, righthand turns southbound ETH at Lakeside, buses that pull over and merge into traffic without signal or warning, deliberate impeding and vengeful reactive tailgating and blocking in traffic, DUI, and of course, the classic, epidemic phone texting. Driving has become much more aggressive in the last 15 years.
You forgot the overly ‘polite’ utility company truck which allowed no less than 30 vehicles to merge in front of him (queue jumpers) in front of the airport Foster’s. I sat for a full 30 minutes without moving (vehicle in PARK!) while this numpty let every single queue jumper go around me and merge in front! My next payment to that company will be in PENNIES so that the person collecting can spend 30 minutes counting my payment! I need to clean out my 5 gal water bottle of all the pennies I have collected over the last 15 years!
Always the vengefulness…smh