Driving in Cayman

I have been wanting to do a post on the road conditions here in Cayman. Those of you who live here will just laugh because you know exactly what I am talking about; and for those of you who live in Utah I hope you will appreciate the roads there. Most of the streets here are really narrow, I am talking I wouldn't want to drive a truck on the streets because there would not be enough room. Also I can probably count on one hand how many streets are straight here. The roads curve all over the place. They are also covered in pot holes!!!! To give the island some credit, the main roads are decent, but once you get on any kind of side road or in any of the neighborhoods, watch out! They seem to be the worst up in West bay where I live. I mean seriously, if you are not driving in the middle of the road you are either hitting pot holes or if you do chance the edge of the road and manage to not hit any pot holes your alignment will get screwed up because of all the pot holes that have been filled. (by filled I mean a big bump where too much pavement was put in the hole or basically a smooth pot hole where not enough pavement was used to fill the hole) Also when people walk down the street here they don't move over as far as they can when a car comes so usually you have to go around pedestrians. If you have to pass a person walking on the road and a car coming in the oncoming direction it is super scary. With all that said here is my fun incident that happened to me today.

I went to my friend Kiren's house to go swimming. It was so much fun and we had a great time. She lives at the tip top of West Bay. (I live sort of in the middle) On my way home I was driving on a narrow, curvy, pot hole filled road, like most of them in West Bay are. I was driving towards the middle of the road (like everyone does here) and when another car would come I would go to the edge of the road and creep past the oncoming car. I was going around a fairly large curve and I was in driving towards the middle of the road and another car came. I got a little panicked and instinct from driving on the right side of the road for 11 years took over and I first moved to the right side of the road, then back to the left side of the road. (oh yeah, did I mention that we drive on the left side of the road here!!!) Just my luck the car coming in the opposite direction was a cop! ugh!!! I see him stop and turn around and flip his lights on. Crap! I pull over and he comes up to me and asks me why I swerved on the wrong side of the road? I told him I got confused and panicked. He asked how long I have lived her and told him six months. He gave me a "you are and idiot" look and told me that was long enough to know which side of the road to drive on; and that he was going to give me a ticket. Ugh, again!!! He radios in the cars license number and their system shows that our car hasn't been insurd for a year. He asks me for my proof of insurance and of course I had taken it out of the car to look at something on it a few weeks ago and forgot to put it back in the car. Ugh, ugh, ugh!!! To add to my situation I don't have my wallet with me because I only grabbed my pool bag. Luckily, he could look up my licence by my name and address, so I didn't get in trouble for that. He left to go write out the ticket. Allie and Kaity starting to wine and I am shaking because I just knew I was going to have a huge fine to pay. He comes back and tells me that he doesn't have the right document to give me a citation for not having proof of insurance. Yeah!!! However, I will have to bring in my proof of insurance in to the police station or he is going to prosecute me for it :S Then he tells me that I am lucky he is not giving me a reckless driving ticket because then I would have to appear in court. He only gives me a traffic ticket which is $25. So in all reality, way better then I was thinking it would be. He tells me I have to go in a pay the $25 at the Court house by March 2nd or I will get a warrant out for my arrest. I have no idea where the courthouse is and so he tries to explain where I need to go. When ever you get directions here it is all done by landmarks, the streets have names but no one uses them. He asks me if I know where like 5 different landmarks are and I don't know any of them, finally he says one that I am familiar with and he told me I will see the building. He couldn't really tell me what color the building is so that should be fun for me to try and find. For some reason I feel the need to try to explain what a cautious driver I am and how I am always so careful because of my kids in the back seat. That I did get a little confused with the curve in the road and that I was only trying to not hit any pot holes etc, etc... He starts to tell me that it is okay and no one is a perfect driver and he makes driving mistakes too, blah blah blah... Then the typical Heidy happens... I start to cry. I tried so hard not to but I just couldn't stop the tears. I tell him bye and I drive away. When I got home I had to explain all this to Austin. He was good and really understanding.

Later, I took my insurance to the Police station and the lady at the front desk was able to explain to me how to find the Court House. On my way out I saw the officer that pulled me over and He greeted me with a Mrs. Myers did you get your proof of insurance? The lady at the front desk told him they got a copy of it and I high tailed it out of there because I could feel the dang tears starting to come again. I hate that I am such a baby when I feel like I am getting in trouble. Any way that is one of my great experiences with driving here in Cayman.