Five-car Pileup in the Aftermath of Overturned Delivery Truck…

A chain reaction originally begun with this morning’s turnover of a Bowen and Bowen vehicle in Ladyville in which two vehicles traveling into Belize City were severely damaged. Because of the Ladyville scene, traffic had slowed down considerably coming into Belize City, with cars nearly bumper to bumper up to just before eleven this morning.  And when a vehicle leading the line near mile two on the Philip Goldson Highway did something unexpected, near-disastrous consequences followed.  Eyewitness to the accident Gilvano Swasey, whose vehicle was one of the four involved, tells us more.

Gilvano Swasey, Eye Witness

“Everybody has been coming in slow; I would say there were five or six feet between vehicles. And unfortunately like in many instances, it may be a bus that stops suddenly in the front of you. In this case I notice that there was a big warehouse truck that pulled into one of the businesses about two hundred yards ahead and the vehicles they started slowing down and of course I slowed down. And unfortunately the other drivers behind me, about three vehicles behind, they weren’t as conscious of what was happening in the front. So I heard the vehicle slow down behind me and then some screeching and a couple vehicles in the back slammed into each other. So I think it was mainly just a sense of consciousness of what was happening with the traffic.”

Reporter

“So you would best describe this as a chain reaction? Because of one vehicle stopping the others just plowed into each other one after the other?”

Gilvano Swasey

Gilvano Swasey

“Yes, definitely and I guess by noticing the impact you would realize who was more conscious of the traffic; because if you were awake or alert of who was in front of you, you would have had more time and space to stop.”