Govt. announces fines for traffic offences

Earlier this week we looked at efforts by the Transport Department and police to reduce the carnage on the nation’s roads. Today this effort received a boost from Belmopan. Cabinet has authorised Minister of Transport Vildo Marin to publish statutory instruments increasing the size of penalties for a number of traffic offences. When the S.I.’s are signed into law, drunk drivers will face a five hundred dollar fine, dump truck operators who carry loads without a tarp will pay two hundred and fifty dollars, defective lights will cost a blue note, while failure to use your seatbelt will make your wallet fifty dollars lighter.

In addition to the increased fines, the annual cost to register vehicles will go up slightly. Motorcycles will increase from sixty-two fifty to seventy-five dollars a year, and small cars from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and thirty-five, but rates for taxies and buses will remain unchanged. Similarly, the cost of a driving permit will rise from twenty to thirty dollars; a duplicate from five to fifteen, while a change of ownership also rises from five dollars to fifteen. Finally, that small club of people who deal officially in the sale of motor vehicles will see the cost of their dealer license triple from five hundred dollars to fifteen hundred.