BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 4, 2022– A motorcyclist from the village of Sarteneja in the Corozal District met an untimely death this past Friday after colliding with a cane truck parked on the right-hand side of the Philip Goldson Highway just two miles outside of Orange Walk Town on the Remate Bypass. According to police reports, at around 12:20 a.m., cane farmer and truck driver Victoriano Pott, 46, of San Jose Village, Orange Walk District, was en route to the Belize Sugar Industries Limited (BSI) Tower Hill factory to deliver sugar cane when one of his truck’s tires went flat. Pott pulled over to the side of the road to replace the damaged tire. As he did so, he felt something collide with the back of the truck. That was when he noticed 22-year-old Orlando Trejo lying on the ground and his motorcycle lying underneath the vehicle.
The 46-year-old cane farmer called the police, but by the time they arrived, Trejo, who had suffered multiple face and body injuries, including a broken right leg, had already been taken to the Northern Regional Hospital, where he would later succumb to those injuries.
In response to the deadly collision, Communications Director for the Belize Police Department, ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, expressed concerns regarding the safety of the general public, advising persons traveling in the area to avoid using the Remate Bypass, as it was designed for cane trucks, which sometimes do not have reflectors on them.
“We have a bypass in Orange Walk that was built for the use of these cane trucks and cane farmers. I try to encourage people that I meet not to use that bypass. I know it cuts about 10 minutes off your trip, but this is a busy time for the cane farmers. I have been alerted by my staff that some of these trucks don’t have actual reflectors; they just have the reflecting paint. I know that due to financial contraints the cane farmers are allowed to use that road sometimes without their vehicles being insured, so you’re at a loss if you travel through that road designed for cane farmers and have a mishap. I am not [encouraging] cane farmers to break the law, but at the same time you, the general public, must take your safety seriously,” stated ASP Yearwood.
Police have detained Victoriano Pott and have obtained urine samples from him which are still pending investigation.