$14M Invested in Road Safety Program to Date

Crispin Jeffries

The Road Safety Project is funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and the Government of Belize. And while the program highlights the dangers resulting from drunk driving, approximately fourteen million dollars have been invested in infrastructure, equipment and training particularly along the demonstration corridor; that is the George Price Highway. Chief Transport Officer Jeffries spoke about the successes so far from the project.

Crispin Jeffries, Chief Transport Officer

“Certainly the impact of enforcement along the highway as well as infrastructure has been seen and felt. We’ve seen a reduction in the fatalities; we’ve seen an improvement in the road infrastructure; we see road markings, road signs, curves marked, shoulders being developed. There is a lot that has happened in the infrastructure side. There are five components in the project; actually this is a three-year project that runs until 2016. From the successes we’ve seen, we see the introduction of new ambulances as a part of the post crash. We see the significant amount of educational programs as a part of the education component. There’s a lot of training that is taking place in terms of management, the capacity building side of it. And there is also the public relations campaign. There is that phase that is to kick in and then there is still some parts of the components related to enforcement that we will see some advance training for officers. The training components have seen a lot of things including defensive driving training for drivers and many ministries of the government service and many private sector organizations taking on some initiatives and taking on the lead to see that some of these things take place in the private sector also. So there is a lot that has rubbed off, so to speak, on the private sector and the community. We are seeing a significant amount of participation. Channel Five for example won an award for covering some of our road safety aspect.”