25 traffic enforcement officers receive training
Today, police officers, traffic wardens and transport officers gathered at the Belmopan Training School to learn the dos and don’ts of traffic enforcement. It’s all part of a larger Road Safety Project funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and launched in 2013. There are different facets to the project, from effective interaction with motorists and ensuring safe, sober driving, to creating better road and driving conditions. It’s a huge project with a simple but important goal – reducing traffic accidents and saving lives. Today, News Five stopped in at the Traffic Enforcement Workshop, facilitated by the Social Investment Fund and foreign consultants SWEROAD.
Evan Dakers, Social Investment Fund
“This entire project is a part of the Belize Municipal Development Program and the Social Investment Fund, through its project implementation unit, are the ones who are coordinating the entire project. The traffic component of which SWEROAD is the main executing agency is being coordinated by SIF. So we are the ones who are working hand in hand with SWEROAD and we are the ones who make the connection with the various stakeholders; in particular the municipalities: the town councils, the Ministry of Transport and all the other entities that are a part of traffic enforcement in Belize.”
Milton Bertin Jones
Milton Bertin Jones, Team Leader, SWEROAD
“One of the activities is to train traffic officers, local officers and department of transport officers in modern enforcement techniques to have better result in accident reduction and thermo victim reduction that is more important.”
Evan Dakers
Evan Dakers
“Today’s workshop is focusing on the issue of communication with road users. And we have been trying to get the police officers and traffic wardens to understand that there are proper ways to talk to road users and of course there are not so good ways of doing it. But I think what is even more important and that will be done tomorrow—because this is a two day workshop. Tomorrow they will be introduced and maybe reintroduced in some cases, to the use of breathalyzers and that is going to be an opportunity for those drivers who are driving under the influence of alcohol to be put on warning. In other words, there will be the distribution of breathalyzers and all the traffic wardens and those traffic officers that will be responsible for traffic will be able to utilize these equipments. So we are hoping that with the use of the breathalyzers there will be a definite reduction in road traffic accidents and so forth.”
There are some breathalyzers already in the country, but not nearly enough. It is hoped that in a couple months government will be able to procure enough to blanket the country.
