accidents in Latin America/Caribbean. The Ministry of Works has
commissioned a study on Belize's highways and roadways.
Marion Ali, Reporting...
"The sobering image that punctuates the miles 27/28 location on the Western
Highway bears a constant reminder of the high number of fatalities as a
result of road traffic accident. And today that reality was placed on the
front burner at the George Price Centre in Belmopan when those who deal
with traffic regulations and make the roadways safer discussed the very
factors that cause traffic accidents. The Ministry of Works commissioned
the International Road Assessment Programme, to conduct a study on Belize's
highways and roadways. IRAP then commissioned the Midwest Research
Institute to conduct the coding of the road attributes and to determine
which of the highways are top priority thoroughfares. And according to
Senior Executive Engineer with the Ministry of Works, Graciano Medina, the
main focus is mainly infrastructure and there is already one stretch of
road being considered.
Graciano Medina, Senior Executive Engineer, Ministry of Works
"In particular we can say that the Western Highway from Roaring Creek to
Benque Viejo is one of our most critical highways that needs a lot of
attention."
Julio Urzua, Reg. Dir., IRAP, Latin American/Caribbean
"We are going to give the Government a package of suggestions for them to
implement. Some of them are related to widening the shoulders and paving
the shoulders that is very important; others are related to what we call
the road side friction, we would like to have a program here of eliminating
the friction long the road. This means that when you run off the road you
are not going to hit a tree or a pole or some hard object."
Graciano Medina, Senior Executive Engineer, Ministry of Works
"We will need to determine which one is first again based on funding."
And while the studies mainly deal with improving the current road
infrastructure, there is an equally urgent need to address. With road
traffic accidents claiming more than 70 lives each year, the issue of the
human element - that is motorists simply ignoring traffic laws is
imperative.
Julio Urzua, Reg. Dir., IRAP, Latin American/Caribbean
"In terms of number of fatalities per vehicle and number of fatalities per
population, it is very high in comparison to other countries. In fact it is
one of the highest rates in the region including Latin America. This is
because of a number of factors and I would say three factors in particular,
one is the human behavior, you have drivers who are speeding as we found in
our studies, we have heard alcohol is also a problem, we did not do a study
on that but the interviews with people and the conversations say that,
pedestrians behavior, pedestrians that walk across the street that cross in
places that there are no facilities also play a big role and bicyclists
that don't use any reflective garments, etcetera."
While the study, which started in October of 2011 had identified the
Western Highway between Roaring Creek and Benque Viejo del Carmen, the
government will have the final say on which portion of Belize's road
network will get attention next.
LOVEFM