A traffic accident occurred early this morning at the intersection of Vernon Street and Central American Boulevard, where the stop lights have been out of operation since last week.
According to Belize City Deputy Mayor and Councillor in charge of Traffic, Eluide Miller, the malfunction was caused by a recent weather event. “This time it has been caused by the major thunderstorm that we experienced last week Wednesday,” Miller explained. “The power surge caused one of the four cards in the system’s motherboard system to blow and we realized this during an inspection done the following morning, Thursday of last week.”
Since the discovery, the City Council has been working to repair the damage. “We have been working with the technical people bringing in the necessary card. That part is scheduled to be in country this Friday. We anticipate that by the end of the day on Friday the light should be operational again,” said Miller.
The intersection is known for high traffic volume, and residents have expressed concern over recurring outages at the location.
“As you have highlighted this seems to be some recurrent, but each time it is beyond the control of the council. We are looking at measures to put in place to avoid this happening in the future. We are reviewing the option of adding power surge protectors.”
In the meantime, the Council has deployed traffic officers to help manage the flow at the busy intersection. “While the light is down, we do have traffic officers on the site at the intersection from six forty-five a.m. to six p.m. from Monday to Friday during the week. On the weekend we even have officers from eight a.m. to five p.m. and they assist traffic flows during peak hours. When the traffic is a bit lighter you will notice them observing or monitoring from a bit of shade,” he noted.
Commenting on this morning’s accident, Miller shared, “I also understand there was an incident earlier today at this very intersection. I must share that report has revealed that one of the motorist was using a mobile device while driving, which is illegal. So it is really important to clarify that the absence of a functioning light does not excuse reckless driving.”