Health Ministry: RTA’s ‘a Public Health Concern’

Marvin Manzanero

Road traffic mishaps are also a concern for the Ministry of Health, which does keep a running tally as part of its mortality statistics for Belize. While the figure was not available as of news time, Director of Health Services Dr. Marvin Manzanero made reference to some of the key factors behind crashes, such as excessive alcohol use, speeding, poor judgment and others out of drivers’ control such as the conditions of the road.

Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services

“The other issue has got to be alcohol and road traffic accidents which is a public health concern. I think, consistently, over the last four days we did see a good amount of traffic accidents and I think five people died as a result of that, so that has to be a concern.  I think it’s a mixture of dynamics; with alcohol – I think speeding has got to be one of the primary reasons, alcohol if you add it into the picture. The fact that pedestrians and people on bicyclists are not necessarily going to be using proper measures to ensure that they are visible to oncoming traffic – it’s a combination of those things. I know people keep citing the bad state of the roads, but I think it’s a combination of all of those things.”

In addition to the fatal mishaps reported on the George Price Highway, there were several scares on the Philip Goldson Highway. The most prominent of these involved Mayor of San Ignacio Town, Earl Trapp. Mayor Trapp was driving his personal red Ford Ranger pick-up from Orange Walk to Belize City on Boxing Day when between miles thirty-six and thirty-seven, outside of Carmelita, a Green Toyota driven by taxi driver Ricardo Carcano of Orange Walk collided into him and overturned. Trapp, his wife and Carcano all sustained minor injuries.