BELOMPAN, Belize – Prime Minister John Briceño has led the country in expressing sympathy to the families of the 10 people who were killed as a result of a vehicular accident urging motorists and others to “utilise our roadways with sound judgment and care.”
He said, “Adhere to the traffic laws, speed limits, and carrying capacities of our motor vehicles. Let’s drive with care for our lives and those of our fellow citizens utilising our roadways and municipal streets and pathways. We are each other’s keepers in every sphere of life and interactions.”
The police said that the 10 people, including a four-year-old child, died when a sporting utility vehicle (SUV) and a motor car as well as a motorcycle crashed into each other last Saturday night.
The car burst into flames and firefighters later removed the bodies of nine people from the vehicle. The rider of the motorcycle died on impact with only the occupants of the SUV surviving the accident with varying forms of injuries.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander of the Eastern Division, said it is too early to determine whether the use of alcohol played a part in the accident that happened between miles seventy-one and seventy-two on the San Ignacio/Benque Road, near the westernmost town in Belize.
“Tests will be done and it will be determined when the results are obtained,” he said, adding that the police had received information that there was a checkpoint before the accident occurred.
He said the car “ran through the checkpoint and failed to stop.”
The Mayor of San Ignacio/Santa Elena, Earl Trapp, expressed his frustration over the lax enforcement of traffic laws and called for stricter vigilance by the authorities.
“It’s never too late. It’s late in that lives have been lost, but we can take this responsibility. It is a reactionary moment to begin to implement something proactive, you know, and I believe that it’s no time for us as the local authorities as well as the government to enforce the laws because the laws are there.
“And I have seen things happen in this municipality where motorists and drivers have caused some kind of infringement and then they come in trying to annul tickets, but I think it’s high time that we, as leaders, begin to take these things very seriously and implement the laws. Because by implementing the laws, one or two people will get mad at you, but you know what, in the end we end up saving lives,” he added.
The Chief Transport Officer, Leon Gentle, said that his office are developing new strategies to deal with road safety and has been in dialogue with the police department as well as the municipal authorities. (CMC)
