B.D.F. truck and soldiers take dive in river
A group of five men traveling inside a pickup truck, the property of the Belize Defense Force, narrowly escaped with their lives this afternoon when their vehicle careened off the Phillip Goldson Highway and plunged into the Belize River. The pickup, driven at the time by Sergeant Major Michael Belgrove, was en route to Belize City when, according to eyewitnesses, it attempted to overtake another vehicle heading in the same direction. Upon reaching a curve on the highway, adjacent to where the Williamson Sewing Factory was once located, an oncoming vehicle prevented their passage, forcing them to slow down. When they did, the rear of the container truck they were attempting to pass suddenly clipped their vehicle, causing the driver to lose control. Jareth Collymore, who was traveling behind both vehicles, witnessed the near-tragic mishap.
Jareth Collymore, Witness
“I was just coming down from work, coming this way, coming down from work, coming this way when I looked and I saw on the street like a little dust. It looked like somebody just hit something but when we conscious we see some people they’re looking here, a man, a wife and a little child. I couldn’t even remember how they look now because… and then we said, “Wait, but weh di happen ya?” We sih di skids on the street and ting. When we came out and we started walking towards the… I parked my car right here and I got out and when we reached there we see the first guy’s head pop up, then the second guy, then wah next guy come up and a next one and then that’s when we conscious, “wait dah weh di go ahn?” One of the guys said dehn da BDF and ting like dat but dis da when dehn done come out. Everybody come out, nobody look injured nor nothing noh. But what happened I think they were coming this way because we come round the curve afta dehn but from what we could understand wahn big truck mih di come and dehn mi dih try overtake the big truck eena this. But while they were going, the big truck, wah vehicle come round di lane really fast, soh dehn decide mek dehn pull back. But when dehn pull back di big truck clip dehn tail that’s the reason why yoh noh sih dehn gone… Dehn mih wah hit da tree because from when dehn di cohn deh dehn coulda mih hit da tree if da truck neva knock dehn da di tail dehn mi wah hit di tree.”
someday the Government of Belize might actually put white stripes in the middle of the road.
The stripes prevent head on collisions, and provide drivers a strong legal indicator when NOT to pass for good safety reasons.
Usually double solid white center-lines may not be crossed under any circumstances, unless avoiding an obstruction, like for deadman curves. Dashed white means it is ok to pass.
But putting down white stripes on the highways, particularly the western highway, might break the country financially. It appears the only time stripes are put on the highways is when other countries pay for the Belize highways to be built. Maintaining them is not done by GOB, it could be too difficult to make happen, and nobody can figure it out. Both the PUP and UDP seem to have had ongoing problems making this happen over the last 30 years. Got to wonder where that money went to, after all it could cost a billion US dollars a year to paint white stripes on 300 miles of road.
If it ever happens, stick with white and avoid red, it is really hard to see red in the rain at night. To cut corners and save money, just do the middle, skip the edges; better to maintain the center all year round, than think you are doing a great job doing the edges every ten years and unable to maintain the center as visible. It is the center that counts, it the easiest for the drivers to see, know what to do, and judge their driving.
when somebody da wah dumb driver no mater if they put line or signs… dem still overtake pan curve.
so for SOMEONE STOLE THE PAINT all driver shud know not to overtake on a curve.. dont be an @$$ and blame it on the governmetn
Reality, tell it to those killed on these crappy roads.
GOB is responsible for the roads.
Putting middle stripes in roads is what real governments have been doing for over a hundred years.
That is to promote public safety.
Even the Romans 2000 years ago did it with white bricks dealing with horses.
Some curves are passable, some are not.
The middle stripe advises you.
And most thinking people will pass on a bad curve if it means avoiding death.
Sounds like you will only learn when you a a recipient of a head on collision.
Stick with your ignorant and foolish ideas, don’t hold GOB accountable, after all it is not much of a government anyway.
That is so true, deh dum dum dum, why would you overtake approaching a curve? Even a baby could say it’s not safe, let the driver pay for the vehicle, I belive that will start teach one a lesson and maybe many more will follow.
Doubt it princess.
First babies don’t drive cars, second babies don’t think about such things.
Let’s see if reality agrees with you, if he does, you are likely wrong.
There are key issues: curves, speed, and drivers.
Curves bend left and right, sometimes sharp like 90 degrees, sometimes 10 degrees.
But curves can also bend up and down, and be straight going forward, which is why the western highway is so deadly. When they created that road decades ago they graded it that way to save time and money and were ignorant of the consequences, you are stuck with it. Today modern road makers would grade it differently to be more safe.
Speed is critical on a curve. Passing at one mile an hour might be safe, passing at 60 might be100% deadly. It is a judgement call that babies cannot make, it takes experience.
Curves and speed do not make decisions, drivers do. If they are driving GOB vehicles drunk, off duty, with no drivers lincense, consider that a bad decision for the driver, and a bad GOB decision to give him the keys.
White stripes spell it out to legally advise drivers. Solid & dashed stripes are scientifically determined based on the curve, human response times, and posted max speed; all to promote safety.
if you believe in common sense for driving, and the tooth fairy, good luck.
It took a while to make a law telling people which side of the road to be on when approaching each other; again to legally advise the driver on safety. Just like curves, if the fool driver is coming at you in your lane, you die or take evasive action to get thru the problem. If a car is stopped broken down on a bad curve you pass it slowly.
As to driving in Belize, few drivers have good driving skills. Small country, few roads, limited training, broken cars unable to pass inspection with inspection stickers, easy access to drivers license or no license easy access to car (ask for the Hezbollah special). Good driving requires ongong training, testing and experience. People take it for granted and why old people should be tested regularly to keep their license.
>> I belive that will start teach one a lesson and maybe many more will follow.
Follow what???
The same mistake, most likely.
Dream on, the death toll will only increase in your school of driving.
Also you and reality should get a dictionary and learn to spell correctly.
As for your sentences, do you actually talk that way?
Or is it you are too lazy to fix your sentences after you type them?
Listen moreons all the news publish isn’t exactly correct. My dad is a very experience driver and a smart person. He wasn’t overtaking on the curve and was not at fault so before you post dumb a$$ comments think for a while, BDF don’t train people to be tactical drivers for nothing! Majority of BDF crashes do not produce deaths