New traffic lights installed on Boulevard

Another potential embarrassment is now in the making on Central American Boulevard, where motorists are being treated to the installation of two new sets of traffic lights. The new computerized signals, going up at the junctions of the Boulevard and Mahogany Street and Vernon Street have been purchased from a Dutch Company, which is supervising the installation. No one we found on the scene today was authorized to speak about the project, which we believe is being done by the Ministry of Works under the auspices of the Belize Infrastructure Project. We called Kent Gabb, manager of the city’s Traffic Department, who told us that while he agrees that the area needs the signals, his department has never been informed of the government’s intentions. A quick check last night found that the Mahogany Street lights were functioning but that many motorists, totally uninformed of the project, were driving right through the red lights as if they weren’t there. Among them were a number of government drivers whose vehicles, we must note, are not covered by insurance. One alleged safety feature of the lights is that they contain a sensor, which will keep one side red if it detects a vehicle on the other side still in the intersection passing through the yellow. Drivers are asked not to test out this feature, however, and should in fact exercise extreme caution until the day comes, if ever, when Belize City drivers can all agree that red means stop and green means go.