7 News Belize

Minimizing Accidents
posted (June 8, 2016)

The City Emergency Management Organization CEMO, held consultations on Traffic Accidents and Road Safety Strategies with stakeholders today. This was in an effort to look at road safety and how they can formulate a plan in each municipality in an attempt to reduce the number of road traffic fatalities. Emanuel Pech has the report.

More than 1.2 million people die in road traffic crashes every year. And it does include persons in vehicles. In fact, studies from the World Health Organization show that about half of all crash victims are vulnerable road users like pedestrians, and motorcyclists.

In the last decade alone Belize has recorded over 400 deaths related to traffic accidents and experts say that traffic mishaps are showing a potential increase. Now with all the road safety public messaging of the last few years, you would think the statistics would show a downturn. But the reality of the matter is that road upgrades only go so far in reducing the rate of traffic accidents within a community.

That brings us to today’s event at the Biltmore Plaza. Members of the Traffic Department, Police officers, along with Insurance companies, and other stake holders gathered for the 4th annual CEMO symposium to talk about analyzing Road Traffic Accidents and Safety Strategies in Municipalities.

Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor
"Well this is the 4th year that the Belize City Council has sponsored this symposium which is organized through CEMO which is the City Emergency Management Organization. This year we had the great fortune of partnering with the Road Safety Project which I think they're doing a tremendous job in relation to promoting road safety. We also had an opportunity to partner with several stakeholders from the private sector including RF&G, Atlantic Bank, Caribbean Tires so that this morning symposium is really a collaboration with various stakeholders under the hospices of the Belize City Council coming together really to discuss something very very important."

Wayne Usher, CEMO Liaison Officer - Belize City Council
"It’s ironic because so we are improving the roads so people are speeding and not taking care of their safety measures on the road so we believe that this is the right time; better roads we need to have more awareness that you have to take more safety factors in mind so that's why we decided that theme for this year would be road traffic accidents."

Emanuel Pech
"It is an avenue to formulate an action plan or is this a symposium to really disseminate information of what we should be doing?"

Wayne Usher- CEMO Liaison Officer, Belize City Council
"It's both because at the end of our symposium, tomorrow's session we do a critique of everything that went down over the two days and the last session is forward strategic planning. So you're quite right we want to come away with a plan of some sort as to how municipalities can improve their safety strategies and training and public awareness exercises in their respective municipalities; yes we want them to come away with something to work with like a road map as to how to proceed from here going forward."

And while those road safety strategies will have to be developed by each municipality- at their own pace, the leader in road safety initiatives is the Belize road safety project, a CDB funded initiative that aims at enhancing roadways in Belize by making them, well, safer. But just how far are we in achieving those desired results set out in 2013?

Pamela Scott, Proj. Manager - Belize Road Safety Project
"Actually we are near completion of the road safety master plan 2013 and Ms. Mavis Johnson our international consultant will be back in country 19th of this month and will be here for approximately 2 weeks. We are going to work along with the 9 municipalities to develop their plans that would go along the line with the master plan 2013. Now what we're trying to do is to ensure that we get feedback from them to finalize the validation process of the master plan which would then be submitted to the CEO in the Ministry of Economic Development and Petroleum Ms. Yvonne Hyde who is also the driving force behind road safety in this country. In fact in her ministry along with the entire team from economic development they have worked very hard in designing this type of project."

CEMO says the main takeaway from today's symposium is to make road users more responsible for their actions behind the steering wheel or on the street itself. Reporting for 7 news, Emanuel Pech.

The symposium ends tomorrow with a simulation exercise in front of the Biltmore.

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