Tanker Crashes into Guardrail of Coastal Plain Highway

It’s been only a few months since the Coastal Plain Highway has been officially opened and commuters have been enjoying the comfort of the roadway to transit south. But today, a News Five team travelling the highway captured images of a tanker having crashed into a guardrail on the right hand side of the road when travelling towards Democracia. Chief Engineer Evondale Moody tells News Five that this is the fourth crash that has been recorded which has damaged the infrastructure put in place. The road project, which cost over one hundred and thirty million dollars, does include a defects liability period. However, it does not take into account accidents. Moody says that they are looking to the insurance companies to pay for these damages.

Evondale Moody

Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, MIDH

“I am aware that a tanker has crashed into a section of the guardrail. That is a continuous problem for myself and also for the ministry. At this point in time, the road is still under the defects liability period and so, it’s difficult for us to toll it now because we still have to go through that defects period. But instead of having defects in terms of the road surface and the road pavement, we are having these accidents that are destroying all the safety features that we’ve put in place. From my recollection, this is the fourth accident that has damaged guardrails and signs and of the first three, I have initiated a claim against the insurance companies for those drivers and those vehicles that were involved in accidents. I was just telling the C.E.O. this morning that I have not received any update from these insurance companies because the damages that are being caused to our highways and infrastructure, these are third party damages and so, the people of Belize cannot expect that we will just get funds back and go and replace it. I mean we have invested over one hundred and thirty million dollars in the upgrade of the Coastal Highway and people are speeding, you have drunk drivers; they are not respecting the speed limits. We have a lot of signs there, a lot of safety measures have been put in place and they are not respected and so, we have to go after the insurance companies to get back funding to replace these guardrails because they are not cheap. For every meter of guardrail we are spending approximately three hundred dollars per meter; that’s like for every three feet. And so, if we leave it like that, the government will continuously have to spend to repair the main highways.”