Belize City Mayor says Belize City Council expects traffic officers to dish out 100 tickets per month, 56 more than the Government’s Transport Department

By Rubén Morales Iglesias:

Many Belizeans were up in arms when they learnt that the Transport Department of the Government of Belize requires its traffic officers to issue 44 traffic violation tickets per month and failure would be considered insubordination.

Many persons commenting on social media expressed fear that the officers might dish out tickets when no violations occur just to meet their monthly quota.

However, Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner says the Government’s Transport Department quota is very small in comparison to the number of violations committed by drivers.

“We have a quota, it has been a quota that we met here from 2012,” said Mayor Wagner to Love FM.

“The national transport quota of 44 tickets for the month it’s pretty low. That’s not even three tickets for the day. We are even stiffer at the Council. We require that our traffic officers provide five tickets per day and if you have a 20-days working month, you’re expecting in the neighborhood of 100 tickets per month.”

But the Transport Department officers meet less drivers per day than the City Council Traffic Officers. Belize City is the most populated area of the country and has so many more cars than other areas of the country. Hence the difference in quotas.

Even though the general feeling seems to be that the Belize City Council is only looking out for more income, Wagner said that the quota is not for revenue generation.

“We have so many infractions and violations of all the traffic laws in this country it’s ridiculous and I am saying to myself how can we be running a city … where people do not comply with the laws. Every single day there are hundreds and hundreds of violations of the law in this city.”

Wagner said the quotas are not going away.

“Until we become a more disciplined society where we comply with the laws that regime will stick.”

Wagner said that the quota system’s objective is two-fold: to ensure compliance with the law and to serve as a tool for managing performance.

So, the quota system is like the proverbial killing two birds with one stone. It ensures drivers comply with the traffic laws while making certain traffic wardens do their job.

“All organizations have some measure of performance,” the mayor said.

“In the banking sector when we were there, we had to generate X amount of loans per day or per month. You have your targets. It’s a goal-driven type of society we live in. Gone are the days where you come in eight to five and waltz in and waltz out. Businesses and organizations now expect that you are to perform.”

So, if you drive, be on the lookout for the traffic officers for they will be out there.

But the best thing we can do is to follow the traffic guidelines: let’s not speed, ensure that our car lights work well, check that the horn can be heard clearly, and, please, let’s use our signal lights when turning.

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