Belize City Motorists Bypass Traffic Lights, Costing City Revenue

Traffic lights are crucial for controlling traffic flow at busy intersections worldwide, including in Belize. However, many motorists in Belize City frequently bypass these regulations, often due to being in a rush or disregarding the rules. The Belize City Council employs traffic enforcement officers to detect and ticket offenders, but limited resources and equipment mean many violations go unnoticed. This not only undermines traffic safety but also results in lost revenue for the city from fines. News Five’s Paul Lopez investigated the frequency of these violations at the city’s main intersections.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Traffic lights are established to manage the flow of traffic, especially at busy intersections.  A total of seven traffic lights are established across Belize City.

 

Mauricio Gonzalez, Enforcement Manager

“As you guys are seeing. We are moving towards stop lights, parking meters, we just launched the E-Bus. We are trying to establish a safe city. It is not only for motorists. It is for pedestrians for the safety of pedestrians.”

 

 

 

The rules motorists should adhere to at a traffic light are simple: Red light means ‘stop’; yellow light means ‘prepare to stop’; and green light means ‘go’. And then there is the arrow system that directs motorists wanting to make certain turns at an intersection.

 

 

 

 

Voice of: George Lucario, Enforcement Coordinator

“It helps because whenever one section is in the red in the other section traffic can flow, so without the lights it would have been more chaos. So, the lights do help, share the traffic in all different directions.”

 

Mauricio Gonzalez

“The areas where we see strategy stop lights is because we have studies. We have been out there; we have seen traffic congestion, and this is why the city council paved the way to have stop lights at these junctions. A lot of people, a lot of residents don’t know that when the lights is on yellow, speeding is a violation.”

 

The penalty for disobeying a traffic sign or a traffic light is fifty-dollars. So, how many people in Belize City obey the rules of traffic lights? And how much money is the city missing out on daily as motorists violate traffic light regulations? We went out on a covert operation to investigate. We spent at least ten minutes at four different intersections to capture as many traffic lights infractions as possible within that time span.

 

 

Our first stop was the intersection between Freetown Road, Douglas Jones, and Wilson streets. Two minutes in, this vehicle speeds up at the yellow light instead of slowing down. That warrants a fine of fifty dollars. Three minutes in, these two pickup trucks do the same thing. That is an additional hundred dollars in fines. This red SUV daringly sped past a yellow light. The light turned red while the vehicle was in the middle of the intersection. That is another fifty dollars. Within ten minutes on this side of the intersection alone we recorded at least eight traffic light violations. That is a whopping four hundred dollars in fines for the city.

 

 

And those violations only became more egregious at the Central American Boulevard and Neal Penn Road intersection. Within three minutes of recording, this government vehicle sped up at a yellow light. An SUV followed behind and barely made it across before the light turned red. That is one hundred dollars in violation fines. Here, this car makes a left U-turn on a red light to go in the opposite direction, another ticket and fine.

 

 

 

At least, Belize’s first cyber truck adhered to the traffic light rules. But only moments later, this city bus runs a yellow light that quickly turns into a red light. The motorcycle behind it certainly ran a red light. That is two fifty-dollar fines. On the other side of the boulevard, these two SUVs completely ignored the red light as they drove across the intersection, resulting in another hundred dollars in fines. And the infractions only continued. With all that our cameras captured, fines that would be due to the city now stand at a thousand dollars. Unfortunately, no traffic officers were in sight to ticket these violators. And even though a police booth is situated at this intersection, its presence does little to stop these violations from occurring.

 

Another set of traffic lights is situated at the Central American Boulevard and Albert Hoy Avenue intersection. Only a minute into us being there, and already our cameras captured a pickup truck running a red light. The driver of this white car also did not appear bothered as the vehicle ran the right lights. Risking his life, this motorcycle runs a red light.

 

 

 

And, even at the intersection between Vernon Street and Chetumal Boulevard, traffic light infractions kept occurring. Within forty minutes at four different intersections, we documented at least thirty traffic light violations. That would amount to at least fifteen hundred dollars in fines that the city could receive. But, with limited human resources at the Belize City Council’s Traffic Department, catching the rule breakers is not as clear-cut.

 

Mauricio Gonzalez

“We do have operations at these lights. It is something we try to do at least three to four times a week. In the mornings we have officers at different lights ensuring that people are following the light system. At the moment we are not equipped to have officers at every stop light, but we try our best to have them at three out of the six, sometimes four out of the six in the morning.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.