In an effort to alleviate traffic-related issues on Ambergris Caye, the San Pedro Town Council (SPTC) has been following the recommendations of Canadian traffic expert, Darwin Juell. Since the last traffic consultation on January 16th, the SPTC has made it a priority to address prominent issues affecting San Pedro's daily traffic flow. As such, the SPTC met with several Lebanese golf cart rental owners regarding their business practices on Wednesday, February 8th.
The SPTC has conducted several meetings with the various Taxi Associations, but this meeting with the golf cart rental owners came after numerous complaints were given via Facebook. Complaints included reckless driving, halting traffic and blaring music. The SPTC took these complaints into consideration and developed an itinerary to discuss with the Lebanese stakeholders.
There were several issues discussed in the meeting: 1) speeding; 2) illegal soliciting of tourists/locals at water taxis or air strips; 3) maintenance/washing golf carts on the street; 4) noise pollution; 5) business signs that block the street/advertising golf-cart on the street; 6) rude behavior; 7) traffic violations of parking/overloading.
Deputy Mayor Grief stated that the SPTC is taking traffic issues seriously and will be active in addressing these traffic issues in the weeks ahead. "We are looking at these traffic issues holistically. We dealt with the taxis, and now we are dealing with the golf cart rentals. We are not targeting the Lebanese. We are here to target these issues"
Grief said that the SPTC is expecting to see immediate results. "We are hoping that everyone adheres to our laws, and it should yield positive results. If not, there will be penalties. When it comes to soliciting, we will have their trade license revoked. Since we have a working relationship with the Magistrate, if someone is caught speeding, the vehicle can be impounded and we can revoke their driver's license," said Greif.
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