Attorney Orson Elrington avoids driving disqualification but admits not having insurance in ‘fender-bender’

By Aaron Humes: Attorney-at-law Orson Elrington, 40, pleaded guilty today before Magistrate Baja Shoman for not having third party risk insurance on his Ford Explorer during a traffic mishap last Friday night.

Elrington pleaded not guilty, however, to driving a motor vehicle without due care and attention and failing to conform to a traffic sign.

Magistrate Shoman issued a $250 fine to be paid by August 31, 2022, in default a month in prison, and was offered bail of $500 and surety on the charges which he met. He returns to court on those matters on August 3.

Because he pleaded guilty to the insurance charge, the court is obliged to ask for a reason why his driver’s license should not be suspended. Elrington told Magistrate Shoman that he has been a driver for 22 years and this was “a genuine mistake.”

He added that he believed that someone in his office had proceeded with re-insuring the vehicle, which insurance had expired on May 16, 11 days before the incident, because he had received a text message from his insurer Insurance Corporation of Belize (ICB), asking for someone to come in to re-insure the vehicle. He also noted that he needs his vehicle to travel across the country as part of his profession.

The Magistrate agreed and elected not to disqualify Elrington from driving, which the law provides it can do for between three months and one year.

According to police, they responded to a report of the accident and found a red 2009 Nissan Cube SUV was parked on the sidewalk on Princess Margaret Drive facing Mercy Lane with its front left headlight broken and damage to the bumper, while a blue 2014 Ford Explorer had damage to the right rear fender and broken right-side headlight.

Police’s initial investigation found that the driver of the Nissan, one Sherlock Vernon, was coming up Princess Margaret Drive and approaching the ambulance emergency ramp leading to Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital when he saw the Explorer, driven by Elrington, coming from the hospital and making a U-turn at full speed onto the Drive over the ramp. The vehicles collided but no one was injured and both drivers denied responsibility.

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