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.
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