Belize Considers Motorcycle Passenger Ban to Curb Crime

Over in Honduras, riding shotgun on a motorcycle could land you in trouble, and Belize might be next. The Honduran government recently rolled out new restrictions, banning passengers from motorcycles in certain areas and at specific times, all in a bid to crack down on crime. And now, Belize is considering a similar move. This idea’s gaining serious traction, News Five has covered multiple shooting incidents where two people on a motorcycle were involved, with the passenger often pulling the trigger. So, could this be the next step in Belize’s crime-fighting strategy? CEO Williams weighs in on the growing conversation.

 

Chester Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Minister of Transport

“ Certainly, we are looking at what Honduras did recently. And I saw the Honduras move and when I saw it, I sent it right away to the Minister of Home Affairs. And I said to him if you think that we should consider doing this in Belize where Honduras have now banned the second rider. So on a motorcycle in Honduras, only one person can ride. And again, it’s because of the same thing where you have the rider, the second rider is normally the gun man. So they did that move as a means of safety to try and quell some of the issues that they were having with gun men riding on motorcycles and go and perpetuate the criminal acts. So again, in the discussions that we’re having to amend the law to make it more stringent, where motorcycles are concerned, we are including the police as a part of the dialogue.  Again, we’re also looking at other things like for example the helmet that is worn by the rider and the second rider must bear the license plate number of the motorcycle. So again, we know that the helmet is good, but there is also the evil aspect behind the helmet where the helmet is used by the gunman to conceal identity. So, you conceal identity, you’ll not be able to recognize because of the helmets. You’ll put this license plate number on the helmet so once we see the license plate on the helmet, we can know exactly who the cycle belongs to and we will be able to trace this cycle. The license plate number is going to be clear if we go down that route, so that you will not be allowed to loan your helmet to anybody. If you loan a helmet to anybody and they go and use it to commit a crime, the onus is then going to be on you to prove that you are not the gunman at that particular moment.”