Radar gun looks to slow speeders
They are a common site in countries as diverse as the U.S.A. and Cuba, and are equally reviled by drivers whenever they are used. But are motorists in Belize–a country where speeding tickets are as rare as a hurricane in April–ready for the technological marvel known as the radar gun? Ann-Marie checked it out.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
Travel along the Northern Highway and you can’t help but notice new neon green speed limit signs, which read fifteen miles per hour for trucks and busses and twenty-five for other vehicles, presumably cars.
These signs coupled with the use of a radar gun are part of the Traffic Department’s latest campaign to discourage drivers from speeding. According to Kent Gabb, traffic manager with the City of Belize, the time has finally come to enforce the speed limit.
Kent Gabb, Traffic Manager, City of Belize
“There’s nothing new with the speed limit signs, this is old laws. The only thing new about it is the enforcement. We’re just now enforcing these laws, but these are not new laws, they are old laws.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“You don’t think twenty-five miles per hour is too slow?”
Kent Gabb
“I would not think so, not for city limits. We need to slow down the drivers, there are too many accidents, loss of property, lives and injury to humans. We need to do something about it.”
The traffic branch of the Police Department is also doing something about it. They are out on the road tracking vehicles with the help of a radar gun.
Asst. Insp. Francis Williams, Dep. Comdr., Traffic Branch
“It’s a magnum speed gun, the miles per hour version. It operates on a microwave frequency, the guns sends out a microwave frequency and it reflects it back to the gun, which registers the current speed the vehicle is doing. We manually lock in the speed the target vehicle is doing, until we can stop the driver and let him see exactly the speed he was doing.”
Traffic Officer
“Good afternoon sir. The reason we pulled you over is because you broke the speed limit. You were driving forty-four miles per hour on a twenty-five miles per hour zone. Can I see your driver’s license please?”
Asst. Insp. Francis Williams
“We do verbal warning and we have warning slips by the Department of Traffic. Police also have their own type of warning that we prepared and give them. But for this exercise, it’s more speedier, so we use the ticket form provided by Belize City Council.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Will this go the way of a lot of the other campaigns, start out good and maybe after nine days it’s over, with people just driving any which way?”
Kent Gabb
“I anticipate it an ongoing enforcement on this matter.”
Asst. Insp. Francis Williams
“As for manpower, the resources are stretched very thin, but we try our best to put in extra hours to keep our roads safe for all our citizens. The man power is stretched out, but we’re trying to do our best.”
And if drivers won’t practice to do their best during this week’s public campaign, their speeding ticket–not just a warning–will be sent in the mail. Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
It remains to be seen how Belize’s court system will deal with those drivers who contest the accuracy of the radar gun and its operators.
