Habet says G.O.B. Listening to All Citizen Concerns of Road Traffic Safety

Belizeans are still in shock from the series of deadly road accidents over the past few months, including a tragic incident on the George Price Highway that claimed ten lives last weekend. On Tuesday, we spoke with Cayo Northeast Area Representative, Orlando Habet, about the government’s response plan. He shared that the government held an open dialogue with the community to gather feedback on potential improvements. Residents suggested changes like better road lighting and nationwide driver education for young people. We caught up with Habet again today, and he expanded on the changes Belizeans are eager to see.

 

Orlando Habet, Area Representative, Cayo NorthEast

“Another suggestion was that there are no, at least in Cayo, no driving schools to teach young people and have their driving they can do it a year or more with a learner’s permit before they can get a license. Concerns that maybe sometimes some politicians,  luckily not, I am not one of them, that would call the police and say, listen, a certain person have a traffic violation, can you release them or be easy with them? That has to stop. We cannot continue. And so there were different suggestions, but I think that clearly the road signs, visibility of the signs, the markings on the road, very important, but also on the other side, People want to have space and areas where they can go and enjoy themselves because they’re young. But one of them can’t be over drinking. It has to be controlled. And so the families have to also take some responsibility there. And to speak to our youth because they are so valuable to our communities, valuable to our country, so we can’t continue losing them the way they are. I can recall when I was in a position when the road was being constructed and I was in the front row. From Belmopan to San Ignacio and I told the Prime Minister Barrow at the time I was in a position that if we are making the roads and  it is very expensive and the reason why it was expensive was because they had to acquire land from both sides from private property to widen the road, then why didn’t we acquire a little bit more and make it four lanes so that you have two lanes going, two lanes coming because  from what I hear from the traffic department, transport department is that A high percentage of the front line accidents occur because of overtaking.  And that’s because we only have two lanes on the road. It is something that we’ll have to start to address gradually. At least, certain sections of the road that are very important, where we can do that. And that there is still some space. Maybe from Belmopan to Cayo, to San Ignacio, it’s difficult because you have the villages throughout all the road. But maybe from Belmopan to Belize City is one area where we can possibly do that.”