BELIZE CITY, Wed. Feb. 12, 2020– In 2019, there were 103 road traffic incidents, and 85 deaths as a result of those incidents.
According to the Ministry of Health and the Police Department, of the 85 persons who died, three persons fell out of vehicles, seven persons were killed in head-on collisions, 18 persons were killed while riding bicycles, 7 persons were killed in motorcycle collisions, 16 persons were pedestrians who were knocked down, and also, 10 persons were killed when their vehicles slammed into stationary objects. One person jumped out of a vehicle and died, seven persons died in overturned vehicles, 2 persons were killed when the vehicles in which they were traveling were hit from the rear, 7 were killed in vehicles that ran off the road, 3 died in side-on collisions, and 4 were killed in unspecified collisions.
There were 71 fatalities in 2017 and 83 in 2018. The fatalities have increased somewhat.
Since 2011 there has been an increase of deaths in road traffic accidents. In 2011, 52 persons died as a result of such incidents; in 2012 traffic accidents caused 65 deaths; in 2013, 64 persons died due to such accidents; in 2014, 76 died; the number of lives lost in those accidents in 2015 was 84; in 2016 there were 92 such fatalities; in 2017, 83 persons died in traffic accidents and in 2018 such accidents claimed 71 lives. Adding, the 85 deaths in 2019 due to traffic accidents results, in a total of 672 deaths on our roads, and highways, within the 9-year period.
Of the 103 collisions which took place in 2019, 8 occurred in the Corozal District, 12 in the Orange Walk District, 30 in the Belize District, 24 in Cayo, 18 in Stann Creek and 6 collisions in Toledo Five of those collisions were caused by foreign drivers. It was also noted that only 16 of those collisions, involved female drivers.
Government has implemented road safety projects aimed at decreasing road traffic accidents. Under this project, police and the Department of Transport frequently patrol the roads and highways to ensure that drivers are not speeding and are observing the rules of the road.
