ComPol Williams Explains GPH Fender-Bender

Chester Williams

Commissioner of Police Chester Williams was involved in a fender-bender while overtaking another vehicle on the George Price Highway over the weekend. There has been a lot of criticism targeted towards the top cop since the accident occurred. An image from the scene showed two solid double lines in the middle of the highway, an indication to motorists to take caution before overtaking. So did ComPol Williams not heed that warning? And, why was he not served with a Notice of Intended Prosecution? Well, we caught up with him in Belmopan this morning where he gave us a detailed breakdown of what he says transpired.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“We were traveling from an east to west direction. In belief, we drive on the right. We don’t drive on the left. We drive on the right hand side of the road. So I began to overtake. Traffic was clear. I was over. I passed the first vehicle. As I was passing the second vehicle, which is the Kia, I saw the driver made an immediate turn to the left as if he was going to turn into Maya Hill, which is on the left. Now, the law is this is not anybody’s opinion. The law the law is if you are driving and you are going to make a left turn, you must pull off the road and give weight oncoming traffic on a highway. And you must also make sure you use your rear view mirror to look to the back to see if anything may be overtaking you before you make that turn. The driver did not do that. He just made the turn without looking in his rearview mirror and could not have seen me coming. And that was what caused the collision. Now, I know much has been said about the yellow line. Where the vehicles were parked was not where the accident happened. We pulled off deer. But let me educate some people and remove the cap of ignorance from off their heads. There is nothing in law about those lines on the road. Those lines are just guide for drivers. The rules or the law relating to overtaking is one. They must not overtake a wrong, a curve. They must not overtake on the blow of a hill. You must not overtake when traffic is coming the opposite direction or what you cannot see. So long as you have a clear view ahead, that nothing is coming, you can overtake. And I’m sure that every driver in this country at some point in time has overtaken a vehicle on those double lines. And if you can show me one driver who have not done it, I’m going to show them heaven and lead them to heaven.”