Cabinet Reviews Road Safety Rules Amid Rising Deaths

The government is taking a hard look at new traffic regulations aimed at making our roads safer, and that includes mandatory motorcycle training. Now, the proposed three-hundred-dollar fee for that training raised eyebrows, but Transport Minister Dr. Louis Zabaneh says Cabinet is considering subsidies and tougher enforcement to ease the burden on low-income riders. Still, he insists the growing number of motorcycle-related fatalities on Belize’s highways is a crisis that can’t be ignored.

 

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport

“So the initial suggestion of three hundred dollars for training was not by itself the all of the idea on how we will address this matter. That was a part of it. And in listening to people across the country, we recognized and I will tell you in Cabinet we had some vigorous discussions about this matter with very good suggestions coming out, recognizing we don’t want to be imposing a very high cost on our people, especially those with lower income who want to use motorcycles as means of transportation. So, discussions have occurred in Cabinet to subsidize that cost, in terms of also enforcement. Those are very important aspects. Cabinet has realized the ministry of transport is very understaffed when it comes to enforcement across the whole country.”