If you went to the city's Traffic Department to get a simple driver's license anytime between October 15 of last year and yesterday, you left instead with a receipt because, as we've reported, the City Council ran out of the serialized plastic cards used for the licenses. Well, they're finally here.
7NEWS has confirmed that the license cards were cleared yesterday and licenses were printed today. But don't rush to the Traffic Department to pick up yours just yet. Because of the backlog, reported to be at over two thousand licenses, the Department's staff is scrambling to clear and square that away. And the first priority is not necessarily your license. Director Michael Godoy today told us that the first licenses are for those Belizean students and visitors who are here for the holidays and need to return to the countries of residence with a valid license. After those are dealt with, Godoy says they will move on to all those who applied for licenses on a first come, first serve basis, meaning that if you're waiting to pick up your license, Godoy advises that you'd best come in and check next week Friday.
As we've reported the entire breakdown was created because, according to Fultec Systems, which supplies the cards, the City Council failed to order replacements on time.
And in a time when competence often passes for excellence, the council has also solved the long standing traffic light problem at the Douglas Jones intersection. Godoy informed us that they were able to hire a local electrical engineer who found a number of shorts on the system. Those shorts had thwarted earlier repair efforts. He says now the council has replacements and a local who can fix the problem so while there may be intermittent problems, a long term failure should not recur.
