Drivers urged to trade in old license for new
It’s an important document and now the Belize driver’s license is going high tech. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods brought in her old beat up ID and–just like magic–emerged with a bright and shiny new one.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The problem of fake licenses both at home and abroad has prompted the Belize Traffic Department to issue new identification cards with a series of security features.
Kent Gabb, Traffic Manager
“If you notice on the driver’s license, it has another faded photograph, which is a watermark actually in the card itself, plus the regular photograph, that is an added security feature. And then, it has like I said the overlay with the Belizean flag in there and the word says Belize and then when you turn it to the back, you see B.C.C. 10…those numbers in the back represents the serial number of these cards, it’s the number that we will track these cards by.”
Three weeks ago, the Traffic Department started issuing the new driver’s licenses and to date, one thousand, one hundred people have received their ID. As I found out this afternoon when I went to renew my license, the process is rather simple and it takes only five minutes to complete. Drivers who are applying for the first time are required to pay fifty dollars for one year, while annual renewals cost thirty dollars. Of course, if you would like to save money, you can wait until your old license has expired. However, Traffic Manager Kent Gabb is sending out an appeal to a special group of motorists to come in and get the new card.
Kent Gabb
“You have some people out there who use a driver’s license just for the purpose of identification and once it has expired they don’t come in and renew because the purpose was just for ID, so they don’t come in an renew. Those are the people we are asking that if you want to use it for the ID you can still use it to drive because they are legal drivers once they get the license. So we are just appealing to them who can afford to come in come in and do it. And then it will also help us too, to kind of stream line this and get all the old ones off the street and the new ones.”
Presently there are eleven thousand registered vehicles in Belize City. Gabb says clearly something must be done to better manage the traffic congestion. Some plans include the installation of parking facilities and meters on certain main streets in the city’s downtown and the installation of traffic lights at various hotspots. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
Drivers receive their new card one day after applying. During that time motorists can use their receipts to get around legally. Unlike originally proposed, the new license does not contain the driver’s Social Security number.
