But more than enforcement and legislation, the PM told us outside the chambers that they're also going to work on more traffic education, especially for those who already have their licenses. He added that there should also be stiffer penalties for those who break the law.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I think it is a start but also a part of the presentation, I think I skipped that part, I think also has to be education. One of the things we're thinking about, whenever you have to renew your driver's license, we're thinking about having you study and take a test about road safety because many times people maybe don't even remember some of the traffic laws. For instance, if you're on the highway and you want to cut left to go to your home if you live on the highway for instance or a village, most people put on their signal light and then they cross, even if there's a vehicle behind them when what you need is to get off the highway, the traffic passes, and whenever the traffic is clear, then you turn. Simple things like that people have forgotten. Signal when you're going to overtake, signal when you go back into your land. And don't even ask about the speed limits. I think it also has to be an educational campaign. Enforcement can go so far, but we as a people have to take responsibility that we all need to be looking out not only after ourselves but even for those coming on the other side. So enforcement, education, and I know that we are fixing our infrastructure. And it's so ironic because you all asked me that question last week Thursday in Orange Walk about the traffic accident and one of the things I said was that as the infrastructure improves then people tend to drive faster and become reckless. At the end of the day, my message was, it's incumbent on us, we as a people, we have to become more conscious about the danger of reckless behavior on our highways."
"In the United States, I was told that if you get into an accident on the road and you were drinking and somebody dies, they charge you for murder or something like that so it's a very stiff charge they bring on you and I think we need to look at that. We can't allow people, because they're drunk, they drive and knock down people and people die and you get a bail, you probably shouldn't even get a bail, like with murder you can't get bail, maybe we should lock them up until the time comes for them to listen to their case."
And yesterday we showed you the speed guns and breathalyzers sitting on the shelves at the Ministry of Transport. While the law hasn't caught up to the technology, we asked the PM if they shouldn't be used on the highways instead.
Courtney Menzies:
"I know the legislation isn't completely in place for them to be used in court but shouldn't they at least be on the highways?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Yes."
Courtney Menzies:
"Do you think you'll task the Ministry of Transport for the officers to start using them?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"That's what I just said. I'm not sure where we are with that but I think that we don't even have the laws for it so I guess that's why they have it on a shelf so it's incumbent on us to ensure that we can pass the necessary laws and that's why we spoke with the attorney general at the last Cabinet meeting and asked him to review all these laws and everything that needs to be amended and definitely speed guns, breathalyzers, breath analyzers, and all these that can help us to be able to capture these people. For instance I'll give you an example. I just went to the police station on Raccoon Street where they're setting up the new cameras, a Southern Korean company along with a Belizean who won that bid. And they're showing me all that they can do using AI, artificial intelligence, like for instance they say in South Korea, one person monitors 400 television screens and so when you see the camera, because they had set up a few just for us to take a look and test the system and as people are walking by, you see it captures their face, it captures, well it's not recording, just capturing it, the license plates, and so eventually that we could be able to use this system to help us that if somebody drives recklessly even on a motorcycle that we'd be able to capture them, even to the point, I asked, if somebody is just littering on the ground would they be able to capture it, they said yes. So we have to use technology to help us."
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