Since the start of this month, we've seen a Belmopan mother killed by a drunk driver, a Caye Caulker teenager killed after the van he was in flipped - which also left his teacher paralyzed and his classmate in a coma - and most recently, we've seen the worst crash in Belizean history - with ten lives lost. This year has also seen a sharp increase in motorcycle fatalities - 50 so far this year compared to 37 last year. It's a road safety crisis and today in the House of Representative, the PM made a statement on the most recent loss, and outlined the plan for making highways safer.
He also announced that they will be providing psychological assistance to the first responders who were on the scene.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"The police has been clamping down as best as they possibly can and the traffic department. I'm told that so far this year up to November, we have arrest 201 persons for driving under the influence. It is also a fact that much more needs to be done, that's no where close to what we have to do but the prevalence and frequency of losing so many Belizean lives, especially our young people, promising young Belizeans, warrants immediate attention and action. In this regard, Cabinet has directed the Attorney General to commence a comprehensive review of road safety law and regulations particularly offenses dealing with driving under the influence with a view to make it a serious deterrent for anyone who considers drinking and taking the wheel."
"In the terms of enforcement we also tasked the Ministry of Transport to establish more around the clock, 24 hour highway surveillance but to put more efforts at night because most of the time it's at night people are driving after they come from party or they were out drinking to see how we could control or stop these driving under the influence."
"Many times we just look at the victims, the people that were in the accident and we forget the people who were around and I think that we have to find a way to provide some kind of counseling for these first responders who were brave enough to be out there battling this fire and trying to see if they could save any lives. I can't imagine the horrors that they saw so we ask while we grieve for these families, we pray for the Burns family, we also have to find whatever help we can to give our first responders some kind of counseling. I will ask the Minister of Health to see what arrangements you can and we also ask the Minister responsible, Mr Habet, to put some kind of program so we can help these first responders."
