Motorcycle Riders Remain Belize’s Most Vulnerable Road Users  

Even as traffic deaths decline, one danger refuses to ease up, motorcycle crashes. Riders continue to account for nearly 40 percent of fatal accidents on Belize’s roads, making them the most at-risk group behind the wheel. The push for mandatory rider training may have stalled, but the crashes haven’t. Now, transport officials are zeroing in on a simpler fix that could save lives: helmets. Chief Transport Officer Leon Gentle says new rules are coming to ensure riders not only wear helmets, but wear them properly, in a bid to cut deadly head injuries.

 

Leon Gentle, Chief Transport Officer

“I know that we have been discussing the idea of the reform for motorcycles in Belize and its legislations. One of the closer legislation that you will be that we are intending to improve on is actually the helmet standards. That will see an increase in the safety level because we’re hoping that based on data that we’ve collected in terms of fatalities, majority of those are caused by hits to the head. And so we are looking closely at the safety element of improving the standards as it relates to the helmet. As you may know in Belize it’s mandatory for you to use a helmet but it did not determine what type of helmet. So you see all kinds of helmets being used on a motorcycle, some bicycle helmets, some half helmets. And so we’re looking closely at the standards for helmets to be used on motorcycles. And so these are things that we have to look closely at. And as well as looking at actually training for these riders. We continue to emphasize from the Department of Transport and by wider the ministry. CEO Williams has been adamant that this is something that is necessary for safety in the country as it relates to motorcycles, that we have training for persons who intend to ride these cycles.”

 

Representatives of the Transport Department recently attended a conference hosted by the Pan American Health Organizations where officials from around the world discussed ways to improve motorcycle safety.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: