An Oversized House, Broken Rules and a Deadly Collision

A thirty-foot-wide house, a dark highway and a journey home that ended in tragedy. Veteran police sergeant Jovanni Ponce was driving along the George Price Highway on Saturday night when his SUV collided with a prefabricated house being transported on the road. His wife and eleven-year-old grandson were also inside the vehicle. Now, as his family mourns, transport officials say the house was wider than the law allows and that the mover failed to follow several key safety requirements. Tonight, serious questions are being asked about who allowed the move and whether proper enforcement could have prevented the deadly collision. Paul Lopez reports.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

A prefabricated house measuring thirty feet wide was being moved along the George Price Highway on Saturday night. Transport regulations limit such structures to twenty feet. Before the journey ended, veteran police sergeant Jovanni Ponce was dead. The forty-nine-year-old officer was driving home with his wife and eleven-year-old grandson when his SUV collided with the house. His wife told News Five that she remains in shock and is not yet ready to speak about what happened.  Police are still investigating, but officials say the house mover broke several transport rules. Chester Williams, CEO in the Ministry of Transport, says oversized houses must meet strict size and safety standards before travelling on public roads.

 

Chester Williams, CEO, Ministry of Transport

“Houses that would be moved wholesome must be nothing more than twenty feet in width, and every movement must have certain things put in place as safety measures. Some of those things include, there must be a lead and rear guard. Both the lead and rear guard must have amber lights to indicate to trailing or oncoming traffic the presence of an oversized load on the road.”

 

According to Williams, the house was ten feet wider than regulations allow. The width restriction is intended to leave motorists travelling in the opposite direction with enough room to pass safely. The tragedy has also placed renewed scrutiny on the home-moving industry. The Belize Home Movers Group issued a statement following the collision, expressing concern over the loss of life. Group member Ronny Plett says the law allows houses to be moved between nine at night and five in the morning, but responsible movers generally avoid weekends because more motorists are using the roads.

 

Ronny Plett, Member, Belize Home Movers Group

“So the law actually provides for moving houses any day, from nine p.m. to five a.m. That is the moving time for houses. But it is generally the practice of everyone in the house mover group to avoid weekends whenever possible. Once in a while there may be a reason to do it, but we exercise a lot of restraint to move houses on the weekend, typically because of the nature of things in Belize.”

 

Plett says the mover involved in Saturday night’s collision was not a member of the group and had not participated in its discussions on safety and industry standards.

 

Paul Lopez

“Was this mover, based on your knowledge, a member of the group?”

 

Ronny Plett

“From my understanding, he was never a part of the discussion or a part of the group, because we would love to include all the movers in Belize into the group.”

 

Police are now working to establish the full circumstances surrounding the fatal collision. Investigators have also issued a notice of intended prosecution against the home mover.

 

ACP Hilberto Romero, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch

“We are reviewing video footage, recording statement, and we are conducting an investigation into the road traffic accident. Yes there was a lead vehicle and a rear vehicle that had on revolving light.”

 

For Williams, however, the investigation is also personal. He says he knew Ponce well and remembers him as an exceptional police officer. But he rejects the suggestion that inadequate traffic enforcement alone led to the tragedy, arguing that officers cannot patrol every mile of the highway at every moment.

 

Chester Williams=

“He is just a cool guy, and I am saddened by what took place with him. Certainly, the Belize Police Department lost a very exceptional policeman. I certainly extend condolences to his family. But I cannot accede to the fact that it is due to the lack of enforcement that caused it. Even if there was enforcement, enforcement would not be on every mile of the highway. It would occur at a particular moment for a particular occasion.”

 

One family is now grieving, a police department has lost a veteran officer, and the home-moving industry is once again facing difficult questions about compliance and road safety. Whether this tragedy leads to prosecutions, tighter enforcement or changes to the regulations will depend on what investigators uncover next. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

 

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.

 

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