If you don't have a Belize City drivers permit, chances are your driver's license looks sort of home made, with rough laminated edges and a filler card that a 10 year old with a computer could make in five minutes. Well now the Ministry of Transport has a solution: a national license, not for Belize City, but Belize country. It surpasses Belize City's one in features, in fact it's in line with American licenses. Hi tech, secure and launched today. Here's more.

Hon. Melvin Hulse, Minister of Transport
“People are no longer can tolerate the bad driving that is happening on the road, we cannot tolerate anymore any inexperienced and untrained people to be getting driver’s licenses to be driving on our highways because after somebody is dead, sorry do not bring them back.”

And this license is part of the solution, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Hon. Melvin Hulse,
“With the computerization of the drivers’ licenses, you can now go to any part of the country and renew or get a driver’s license. But the key part to this is in the past when you happen to be in Belmopan, you come in, you do something, you have time and your driver’s license is expiring, you used to come here and they have to call Dangriga, they have to call San Pedro, or call somewhere to get information. You no longer have to do that. That information is already on the computer and therefore when you are issued your driver’s license, it is being physically issued in Belmopan but it reflects where you come from.”

And all that data will be housed in one centralized computer database which among other things should eliminate fraud – ending or seriously curtailing the practice of buying your license.

Hon. Melvin Hulse,
“This type of license will now minimize and try to cut out all those transport officers who mi di thief and hustle money and sell driver’s license and a lot of people made duplicate driver’s licenses. When I say this, it is not a reflection of those people who are in the Transport Department, the fact is that every single member knows that you used to be able to go buy your driver’s license; you don’t take no test, you don’t do nothing and people used to forge driver’s license. That no longer can happen.”

Dean Fuller, Omni Networks
“This license is an extremely secure driver’s license. It has far more security features than the existing driver’s license in Belize City. It carries things like ultraviolet images embedded into the plastic, it has a 2D barcode machine readable image on the back of the driver’s license which meets American standards for driver’s license. It also has a barcode, a mag striped barcode reader. It has a holographic overlay on top of the driver’s license that makes it very difficult to forge. It also has laser engraved serialization to prevent fraudulent or people taking the cards and try to reproduce cards outside of the system.”

Hon. Melvin Hulse,
“This software program in place is only a first step in developing a proper monitoring of everything guys. And let me tell you, as we evolve from here, this will then link up to the police, it will link up to the insurance, it will be able to track down ticket violations, we will have a software program put in place where you could register the vehicle. So with the software put in place, once the traffic is out on the highway checking, he has laptop with him, he can punch in the information….”

And apart from security these new licenses will also give Belizean license-holders legitimacy.

Hon. Melvin Hulse,
“With these standards in places, many times you go to Mexico, you go to the States, especially United States, and they don’t want to accept your driver’s license. Now with the bars and all your pertinent information behind it, they slide it through their computer, bam the information comes up, and it becomes accepted. We no longer can treat Belize as if we are in isolation from the rest of the world.”

A few notes: they intend to go nationwide but right now that is still a ways off. Right now it is only available at the Ministry of Transport in Belmopan. The project was wholly funded by the government of Italy.