Dear Editor,

On September 30, Monday night, another death occurred on the George Price Highway (Western Highway) on the road coming into San Ignacio, from Benque. Before this most recent death, there have been many accidents, at least two deaths and some serious injuries.

Everything, from buses, trucks, motorcycles and cars, seem to think it is a racing area. It seems as if some are going as fast as 60 miles an hour.

Children going to Bishop Martin from Trench Town and Kon Tiki usually cross the road at Trench Town. That is where a speed bump needs to be to slow the traffic. Another problem is that the kids going to other schools walk down the road. There is no place on the right side of the road, going toward town, for them to walk because the grass ends at the street. Therefore, they walk in the street unless they cross over to the other side.

This situation is an accident waiting to happen.

In the middle of this stretch, there is a blind curve, where drivers cannot see ahead. Despite this, vehicles don’t slow down until they reach the speed bump at the Uno Gas Station.

We have gone to town meetings to express our concerns, but they said they could not do anything because it was a matter for Public Works. We wrote Public Works, but got no reply. We finally visited the office in Belmopan and spoke to the CEO. He said we were not the first to bring this to his attention, but the road is scheduled to be upgraded and they do not want to spend a lot on speed bumps that would have to be removed.

The fact is they don’t know when the road improvements will reach this area, and something must be done now to slow the traffic down.

Recently, the rain caused potholes in a section of the road. It was very effective in slowing traffic down. Certainly, a couple of speed bumps that don’t need to be too elaborate would be just as effective.

The government needs to do the right thing.

George and Candy Gonzalez,
Concerned Cayo citizens