Commuters Frustrated by Rush-Hour Traffic Checkpoints on Major Highways

Motorists across several major highways are voicing frustration over the timing of recent traffic checkpoints being conducted during peak morning commute hours, particularly between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., a period when many are traveling to work and taking children to school.  Drivers have complained to our newsroom that the checkpoints have caused significant delays, with traffic backing up on main roads and several commuters arriving late to their destinations. Parents have also complained that the holdups have resulted in children being late for school, adding to morning stress for families.  The concerns prompted calls to the authorities to rethink the scheduling of checkpoints, with motorists suggesting that they be conducted either earlier in the morning, later in the day, or outside of peak travel periods to avoid widespread disruption.  Addressing the issue this morning on Love FM’s Morning Show, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Transportation, Chester Williams, clarified that the checkpoints being set up during rush hour are not being conducted by National Transport personnel.  CEO Williams explained that an existing arrangement with the Belize Police Department outlines specific times when checkpoints should be carried out and that the current morning operations do not fall within the agreed schedule.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “In respect to the the issue with the traffic checkpoints being mounted in in Belize City. I know that the transport department is getting the blame. Let me make it emphatically clear that we have given strict instructions to our officers that there is to be no checkpoint entering Belize City or Belmopan in the morning between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and in in the evening between the hours of 4:30 PM and 6 PM. And the reason for that decision is because we fully understand that those are the hours when our commuters are traveling to work or going home from work in evening time. And the checkpoint must never be seen to be obstructing or impeding our commuters from reaching work on time or going home after a long day’s work. So I can assure you that from the transport standpoint, we do not do checkpoints around those hours. Now we have been working with the police to see how we can get them to fall in line with this policy. I know when I was a commissioner of police, I had put that policy in place. But I am no longer the commissioner so the new commissioner is at liberty to change that, which I do not believe that he is aware of this because we had spoken about this as well and he agreed that there should be no checkpoints around these hours. But we do have police officers who may still go out and do checkpoints. And this is something that the commissioner of police is trying to address. My minister has said that they have discussed this matter at cabinet level and there’s going to be a cabinet discussion on this matter and they’re going tot put strict guidelines coming from cabinet where this is concerned. These checkpoints must not be conducted around these hours unless there is some need maybe prisoners escaped or something along those lines. We had a meeting last week Friday with the Attorney General’s ministry and the AG himself was chaired that meeting and we were discussing these whole things in terms of streamlining how we do checkpoints and so forth. So pretty soon we’re going to have something more stringent, more guided in terms of how these checkpoints are to be conducted.”

CEO Williams noted that the ministry does advocate enforcement measures that promote road safety but is flexible to minimize unnecessary disruption to commuters and businesses.