Cayman’s cyclists are calling for change following the tragic death of physiotherapist and father-of-two Per Undheim, 39, who was knocked off his bike during an early morning bike ride on Easter Monday.
Undheim’s death after being hit by a car while cycling through Bodden Town has shocked the community, but collisions between cars and cyclists are all too common on Cayman’s roads, with many cyclists reporting being on the receiving end of incidents on a regular basis.
Cayman Cycling Vice President Wayne Kirkconnell told the Compass that injuries were frequent.
“We have people down, fairly seriously, every month or two, due to a car collision, a broken collarbone, a broken hip, a broken leg or something. We have these things happening regularly,” he said.
“These aren’t new, isolated incidents. They are widespread. They are rampant. … It’s a free-for-all for motorists. We’re the disposable entity. We’re being dehumanised to the point where people think it is okay to bully us with a vehicle off the road, pass as close to us as possible, never wait for a clear path to get around us, just so that they can get where they are going in as little time as possible.”
Frequent near misses
Kirkconnell, who owns several Rubis gas station franchises and has handed out hundreds of free lights to cyclists to help keep them safe, says that he is often passed by cars far too closely, who are often exceeding the speed limit.
“Once a week there are near misses where we are almost run off the road. This is not an uncommon occurrence,” he said.
“The person in the car has zero patience.”
Kirkconnell said the mood was sombre on Cayman Cycling’s regular early-morning bike ride on Tuesday, as news of Undheim’s untimely death sunk in.
“Everyone voiced their concerns, talked about how we can maybe get some of the [more cycle-friendly] UK regulations here, and most of all, bring a general awareness to the population that we’re parents, we’re brothers, we’re sons, we’re daughters, we have family,” Kirkconnell said.
“We’re doing this for our own wellness. We’re not doing this to hinder your commute.”
Former premier calls for new road culture
Former premier and keen cyclist Sir Alden McLaughlin knows the family of Undheim’s wife, Janelle Undheim Henry, and said he was “shaken” by the devastating news.
“Cycling is a sport I love very much,” he told the Compass, “but it’s shaken me to the point that I don’t know if I’m going to be able to go back out cycling anymore.”
McLaughlin has been cycling for many years in Cayman and in other countries, and said, “The biggest problem for Cayman is that in the last 10 years in particular, the culture of the drivers on the roads has become absolutely terrible. The speeding is ridiculous, and people don’t give two hoots about it.”
McLaughlin said that roads have become “racetracks” and that technology such as speed radar needs to be put in so that offenders can be caught and penalised.
“That’s the only thing that’s going to slow people down,” he said.
“There is so little regard or respect for anyone on a bike.”
He says that drivers often misjudge how much room or time is needed to overtake cyclists and cyclists have to respect the rules of the road too, he cautioned, such as cycling in the direction of traffic, not against it.
Now that he has retired from frontline politics, McLaughlin says he is going to work hard on trying to improve road safety for all.
“Unless there’s a successful campaign in terms of education and hopefully reducing the level of recklessness and speed, which is almost always a major factor in these instances, something like Monday’s tragic event will just be a temporary impact,” he said.
“We really need significant change. We’ve got to change this terrible culture where people feel they can do anything on the roads at any speed.”
Cycling ‘more dangerous’ now, says radio’s OC
Radio Cayman’s talk show host Orrett ‘OC’ Connor has cycled in Cayman for years and still rides three times a week at the age of 74.
“It’s become much, much more dangerous,” he said.
Connor used to teach driving in New York City and said, “Here in Cayman, it is really too easy for individuals to obtain a driving licence. When you look at the practical road test, it really is absolutely nothing. It’s much too easy.
“Sometimes people blame others bringing driving habits from other jurisdictions, but I would say that the majority of road users in the Cayman Islands now did not have a driving licence before coming here, so it’s their first experience of driving.”
Connor says that insurance companies could be doing more, and that the money spent so far on CCTV systems should be put to practical use and actually be able to catch and fine offenders.
“Politicians seem to feel guilty about fining people,” he said.
Change in UK road rules
Kirkconnell said that there were many things which could be done to improve cycling safety.
“It needs to be done through traffic management, through public transportation, through improved roads,” he said.
“More importantly than any of this is the human relations part of this, to get rid of the idea that a human on a bicycle is in some way disposable.”
He said that fellow cyclists have been discussing whether the Cayman Island’s Road Code, which hasn’t been updated since 2012, could follow the example set by other countries in prioritising cycling safety.
The UK government made substantial changes to the Highway Code in 2022 to improve the safety of cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders. The new rules are based on a hierarchy of responsibility based on how vulnerable a road user is, so cyclists have to reduce the danger to pedestrians, and cars have to reduce the danger to pedestrians and cyclists.
In Britain, cyclists are now allowed to to ride in the centre of their lane on quiet roads, in slower-moving traffic and at the approach to junctions or road narrowings, and should keep at least 1.5 feet away from the kerb edge when riding on busy roads with vehicles moving faster than them.
Motorists should leave at least 5 feet when overtaking people cycling at speeds of up to 30mph, and give them more space when overtaking at higher speeds.
Regard for cyclists
Aaron Roye, 24, grew up cycling on Cayman’s streets and took up cycling seriously two years ago.
“I’m one of the youngest cyclists in our cycling group as it’s not common for someone my age to pick up cycling here,” he said.
“I think it’s due to lack of awareness, and the lack of road safety. It’s off-putting for parents to allow their kids the possibility to even pursue this as a sport. That’s why we don’t have much representation in regards to sending young athletes off for events. There’s so much untapped potential.”
Roye said that compared to other Caribbean countries, “I’d say we are one of the better countries, but we’re still miles off.”
He puts this down to several factors: a lack of policing, a lack of considering cyclists in road planning, and drivers just not understanding what it’s like to cycle on Cayman’s roads.
“Until a driver gets on a bike themselves, they won’t know what it’s like cycling on the roads,” he said.
“They don’t see the debris, the glass, all the accidents on the road that’s not being cleaned up by the NRA or by Public Works. We have to avoid the debris on the road, we have to avoid the potholes, we have to avoid all these things that force us further into the road. We have to protect ourselves as well, surely?”
Tragic deaths
Per Undheim’s death came only a few months after another cyclist was killed on Cayman’s roads. In December, 22-year old Tara Bahadur from Nepal was killed on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway while cycling home from work.
Bahadur, who was working as a dishwasher at Agua restaurant in Camana Bay, had only been in the Cayman Islands for a few months when he was hit by a Honda HRV travelling in the same direction. The driver of the car, a 24-year-old woman, was later arrested on suspicion of drink driving.
In July 2019, Wilfred Ellington Myles was sentenced to six years in prison and disqualified for 10 years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. Myles was driving his girlfriend’s GMC Yukon on the wrong side of North Church Street in George Town on 15 April 2019 when he hit Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Kirzner who was cycling to his job at the Kimpton hotel.
Myles, who was speeding at the time of the accident, fled the scene and was later found to have a blood-alcohol level 2.5 times the legal limit. He had previously been convicted of 26 offences.
What could be done?
Tackling wider traffic problems such as speeding, driving under the influence or using phones while driving could certainly improve safety on Cayman’s roads for all users, but cycling-specific measures such as increasing the frequency of street cleaning and repairing potholes could be quick wins, as would ensuring roads are adequately lit.
In the longer term, more education to drivers about how to share the road with cyclists would help with understanding the needs of different road users. Cyclists can play their part too, by having bike lights and reflective clothing at night, cycling on the left in the direction of traffic, and clearly signposting their attention to turn or stop.
With cycle lanes not practical across many of Cayman’s narrow streets, a total separation of cyclists and motorists is not an option, so the two have to be able to co-exist peacefully and safely.
Early morning rides
Traffic-calming measures such as adding bollards down the middle of roads like Shamrock Road have only made the issue worse, as it’s now even harder for cars to overtake cyclists. With motorists frustrated by being unable to get past cyclists on too-narrow roads, it often boils over into abuse and, worse, dangerous driving. To make their ride as safe as possible, riders tend to go out very early in the morning to avoid confrontations with drivers.
“Every Tuesday and Thursday, there’s 30 or 40 of us out at 4am just to try and squeeze in two hours before work,” Roye said.
“But we shouldn’t be limited to times where everyone should be asleep just to ensure our safety.”
As Undheim’s grieving family will attest, early morning starts are no guarantee of safety. Kirkconnell says that when he goes out cycling at 4am, there are often cars hurtling down Crewe Road as intoxicated drivers head home after a night out, and cyclists are at risk of abuse as well as injury.
“Just this morning, around 5am, I was nearly run off the road and yelled at to ‘get off the f**king road’,” Roye said on Wednesday, just two days after Undheim’s death.
Cyclists ask for patience
Conflicts between road users are not exclusive to Cayman, but the hostility being reported by Cayman’s cycling community does seem to be an ugly side of island life.
“On a whole, people just need to have a little more patience,” Roye said.
“A little bit more understanding is all we ask, just to wait 10, 20 seconds until the car on the right goes past and you can overtake. We won’t be in front of you for your whole entire journey. Honestly, we’re lost for words when these things happen again and again.”
Like Kirkconnell, Roye was on the group cycle ride the day after Undheim went out on his ride and never came home.
“One of the guys said to me, ‘I have a kid, I have a wife. Am I being selfish by riding my bike?’ Cycling is his passion, and he just wants to ride his bike, which is something he loves,” Roye said.
“We don’t have the infrastructure, like the UK or the Netherlands, for example, but we can build awareness. How many more fatalities do we need until something is addressed?”