As best it could, the court, to determine compensation for the families of four BDF soldiers who went down in a helicopter in Southern Lagoon in 2020, arrived at the cost of a life mainly by looking at the rank of the men, and their ages. How the tragedy impacts the future of the men’s families, and what the future held for those whose lives were cut short, these are things no court made up of human beings can accurately gauge. The anguish families feel on the loss of a family member cannot be measured monetarily. The impact on family members, the community, and sometimes the country, is long-lasting and can influence the future in ways that cannot be predicted.
We’ve had only one helicopter accident. We don’t have many of those. We have thousands of motor vehicles, and weekly our country loses citizens to RTAs, the majority of those citizens in their most vibrant and productive years. In some years our losses to vehicular accidents have approached the horrific number of losses caused by gun violence.
According to the National Road Safety Master Plan 2016- 2030, the good news on road safety in Belize “is that since the introduction of the Belize Road Safety Project there has been some improvement in the death rate, from 21 per 100,000 population in 2012 down to a projected death rate of 8.36 per 100,000 population by the end of 2014.” Unfortunately, we fell far short of the projection in 2014, with our traffic fatalities that year totaling 56, a rate of 15.6 per 100,000.
The Plan listed numerous areas where there was room for improvement – from road conditions, to the required standards for vehicles that are licensed to be on our highways and streets, to the capacity of drivers. That ambitious Plan said that it was “not unreasonable that Belize could meet a target of no fatalities and serious injuries by 2030.”
Zero fatalities or serious injuries in RTAs in a 365-day period does not seem possible. The Belize Crime Observatory (BCO) reported 73 fatalities, 33 involving motorbikes in 2022. The BCO reported 85 fatal RTAs last year, with the largest number of victims being young, vibrant, productive citizens. The BCO report said a whopping 36 fatal RTAs involved motorcycles, 20 involved pickups/SUVs, and 13 victims were on bicycles.
There is carnage on our highways, and the cost to the nation is excessive. A 2010 report from PAHO said that in 2007 there were 61 deaths, 338 hospitalizations, and 565 slight injuries. The report said we lost 2,501 years of potential life, a “total economic cost of BZ$31,966, 045…1.26% of Belizean GDP.”
The numbers say RTAs are a national emergency. The response of the insurance companies last year was emphatic, and painful. Third-party insurance rates shot up between 20 and 50 percent in 2023, with the highest increase being for motorcycles. A press release from the Organization of Insurance Companies of Belize Limited (ORINCO) explained that the increase was in response to “rapid inflation over the last 3-4 years of vehicles, replacement parts, and labor to repair motor vehicles.” A representative of ORINCO expressed sympathy for vehicle owners when he justified the drastic increase, which he said was forced on them by “a collective loss of 4 million dollars by motor insurers in 2022.”
The response of our authorities has been almost blasé. There have been a few comments from the authorities about the need for drivers to be more careful, particularly those traveling on motorbikes.
This carnage on our highways (there’s no other way to describe it): no ifs, ands or buts – it has to stop. We complain daily about the cost of living – it is extremely high – and traffic accidents are taking a huge bite out of our paychecks. Belizeans whose contact with RTAs is what they see/read might respond with some urgency if they were constantly reminded that the high third-party insurance premiums they must pay yearly for their vehicles is directly related to traffic accidents. We can’t afford to du fool on the highways. Accidents will happen. We must do everything in our power to reduce them.
Within our means we must allocate funds to make our highways and streets safer. Accidents will happen. On any given day, our vehicles pass within 5 feet of each other hundreds of times while many are traveling in excess of the 55-mph speed limit. Motorists (drivers of vehicles) and motorcyclists on big motorbikes routinely exceed the speed limit in villages. At these speeds we travel, it is miraculous that we don’t have even more accidents.
Wider streets and 4-lane highways would help greatly in the fight to reduce RTAs, but they are out of our reach in 2024. Within our means, we must do what we can. Highway teams equipped with the necessary tools and materials should go out weekly to repair holes, as they appear; restore the edges of the highway that are breaking away; apply new paint to all crossings so drivers see them from afar; and ensure that we have proper signage.
As lead road-safety advocate, Brother Ernesto Torres persistently reminds us that we need to invest more in driver education, ensure that everyone knows the rules of the road. A few of our laws might be antiquated. A few of our laws need to be hammered home daily. We must revisit speed limits and make adjustments where practical. We need an elite highway patrol whose primary job will be to bring speed maniacs and drunk drivers to heel.
Our country would be better off if we reduced the number of vehicles on our roads, and replaced them with motorcycles. As Phoenix Motorcycle Training (webpage phoenixmotorcycletraining.co.uk) noted, riding a motorcycle is much better for our health than driving a vehicle; motorcycles have less environmental impact than vehicles; and maybe most important of all, motorcycles are cheaper. The cost of buying and operating 500cc and 750 cc motorbikes is comparable to vehicle costs, but the purchase price and maintenance and running costs of bikes that are used in a 5-mile range – 100cc to 150cc – are but one-fifth of that of vehicles.
Motorcycles, like buses, are good for Belize. They fit our budget. Both enable more economical use of space. While our population density is on the low side, our streets and highways are quite congested. A bus with 50 passengers takes dozens of cars off the road. Belize City and all our towns were designed for a time when one lane was sufficient, an age for little Austin cars and “mule an cart”. Motorbikes are a perfect fit.
It is imperative that we make motorcycle usage safer. Motorcyclists have to be reined in, for the good of all. Motorcyclists have their faults, and they must be hammered into line. Motorists have to be made to appreciate the benefits the nation derives when we trade cars for motorbikes. We must not ignore that some motorists are selfish, conscience-less on the road. The BCO report said 13 bicyclists and 11 pedestrians were killed last year in RTAs. Bicyclists and pedestrians have their faults too; they too need to be hammered into line, but it is a good bet that the majority of those who were killed in 2023 were run over by callous, careless motorists.
Come on, Belize, we are lax and cold when we get behind the wheel. We need more love on our highways. The hammer must come down for reckless behavior. And our authorities must ensure that our highways are maintained to the highest level we can afford.