Belize faces a mounting road safety emergency as another life was claimed in a collision involving a transported residential structure on Wednesday night. Dean Perez, 38, became the second fatality in under a month after crashing into a house being moved along the George Price Highway near Mile 18.
Initial reports indicate Perez was traveling eastbound toward Belize City when the catastrophic impact occurred. The incident has triggered an outpouring of grief from bereaved family members, with one relative posting an emotional tribute online: “When mama was on her dying bed she said Cher take care of your brothers and sister. I did. I am trying. I love my siblings like my own children. Dean, you hurt me so, so bad.”
This tragedy compounds an already devastating period for the family, who were still mourning the murder of Raynard Garbutt Jr. and his colleague Robert Crawford just last Thursday. Their bodies were discovered after their commercial truck was robbed and abandoned on the Hummingbird Highway.
The latest fatality echoes the November 29th incident that claimed the life of 53-year-old Julian Bol on the Thomas Vincent Highway under strikingly similar circumstances. These parallel tragedies have ignited urgent concerns regarding the safety protocols governing oversized load transportation throughout Belize’s highway network.
In response to growing public safety threats, the Department of Transport implemented new regulations in August restricting house transportation and oversized structure movements to nighttime hours between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. daily. These measures were specifically designed to mitigate traffic congestion, prevent property damage, and eliminate roadway obstructions during peak travel periods.