Three entities responsible for regulating vehicular circulation in the country analyze traffic regulations to reform them and reduce road tragedies, such as that occurred on February 10 in zone 16, when an extra -urban bus fell to a hollow and caused 54 deaths under the Belize bridge.
Directors of the General Directorate of Transportation (DGT), the Department of Traffic of the National Civil Police (PNC) and the General Directorate of Road Protection and Safety (Provial) have held meetings to prepare a document with reforms to Decree 45-2016, Law for the Strengthening of Road Safety.
The analysis of the regulations is carried out weeks after President Bernardo Arévalo announced the elaboration of a new Traffic Regulation with the aim of avoiding tragedies such as February 10 in zone 16.
In the DGT, provincial and transit it is indicated that there are regulations on review, but it is not confirmed that it is a new regulation, since they work based on existing provisions.
The Provial Communication Department reported that, with the support of the DGT, Decree 45-2016 is analyzed to enforce current regulations and update others, without going into details.
“It is expected that in the coming months agreements and regulations between these technical tables and that will be applied by the three institutions will be reached,” said Provial Communication.
Who participates?
At the technical tables, according to Provial delegates, changes in different traffic regulations are discussed. On behalf of the General Directorate of Transportation (DGT), Elizabeth Velásquez Rodríguez participates, who assumed as director on October 2, 2024.
Velásquez Rodríguez has a degree in Legal and Social Sciences, with specialization in Public Administration. He has experience in public management and simplification of administrative procedures, according to his resume. Wilner Galdámez, director of Provial, and Edgar René Mazariegos, director of the Transit Department.
In the DGT, with the support of internal personnel, reforms to the Regulation for the provision of the Public Passenger Passenger Transportation Service by roadissued in 2012, which has had several extensions for carriers to withdraw the buses 25 years old, as established by the regulations.
Recently, the DGT gave carriers a proposal that consists in eliminating such restriction in exchange for certifying, through private companies, that the units are suitable for circulating. However, bus owners rejected the measure by arguing that the costs are high.
The director of the DGT, Elizabeth Velásquez, explained that the changes to these regulations are in charge of advisors, personnel of the General Secretariat, delegates of the Legal Advice Department and Law specialists.
“Its mission is to prepare a regulation that responds correctly, adequate and updated to the needs of extra -urban passenger public transport,” he said.
He added: “The current regulatory framework is anachronistic, sometimes contradictory and leaves legal gaps that allow discretionary interpretations. However, if there is any element that can be rescued, it will be taken into account, taking as reference positive experiences derived from its application ”.
Velásquez indicated that the ideal would be for the Congress of the Republic to first issue an extra -urban transport law and, subsequently, a regulation is prepared.
According to the official, the DGT and, in general, public transport users urgently require a rule that meets the needs of extra -urban transport. It is the power of the legislative and executive agencies to approve the regulations to address “the president’s instructions to strengthen the legal support that seeks the security and dignity of the user.”
“At the moment A basic scheme is elaborated of the content that is considered necessary in the initial proposal. It is expected to have a first draft with the fundamental elements between March and April, “he said.
The director of the DGT explained that they cannot advance what changes the regulation will contain, since “At the moment the address is in the first meetings to elaborate the basic content scheme”.
Lack of inspectors and other deficiencies
One of the deficiencies of the DGT is the lack of inspectors – there are 9 – to regulate the circulation of passenger transport. In that sense, Velásquez indicated that the projection of the DGT is to deconcentrate the attention to users to achieve presence in different regions of the country.
According to the official, it is expected to increase the number of control inspectors and regional chiefs to 60. To do this, we will work on the creation of new positions so that the inspectors have the ability to sanction the cases that merit it.
For this plan, according to Velásquez, the support of the National Office of Civil Service (ONSEC) and the Ministry of Public Finance (MINFIN) is needed, with whom there was already a first approach.
“We are making efforts to achieve greater coverage and better functionality of the operations and inspectors. To do this, we work in a coordinated manner at an inter -institutional level, mainly with Provial, the Attorney General’s Office and some municipal traffic police, ”he said.
Confirm changes
Brenda Santizo, spokeswoman for the Department of Traffic, confirmed that, with different internal sections of that unit, technical tables were formed to continue with the readjustment established by Decree 33-2024, which reforms the Transit Law.
The reforms approved with that decree establish that the decal in digital or physical format can be presented and validated before the authorities. They also stipulate that municipalities must legally notify infractions and that an stock can be removed without paying immediately, among other modified regulations.
In relation to Decree 45-2016, Law for the Strengthening of Road Safety, Santizo indicated that there is also an adaptation to the regulation and that, as soon as it is ready, it will be made public.
“We have to count on our official documentation to share it,” he said.
Insufficient
Edgar Guerra, of the Ombudsman for the User of Public Transport, attached to the Attorney General’s Office (PDH), indicated that a new Traffic Regulation – as President Bernardo Arévalo announced it – is not enough to avoid more tragedies in public transport and that there must be a new mobility law.
“There should be a kind of superintendence of public transport. The municipality has one, but it is small. My proposal is a superintendence that has total transport control and that this responsibility is removed to the municipalities,” he said.
He added: “A new regulation would not be so functional, it would only come to cover some holes that already exist, but not in an integral way. That should be analyzed within a national traffic and transport policy that the bases feel at least for the next 25 years. ”
Guerra warned that there is a total lack of control in public transport and cited as an example the circulation of collective taxis or “pirates”, which arose after the pandemic in the absence of buses.
In addition, he indicated that the extra -urban bus transport inspection system by the DGT is insufficient.
“It ceased to be functional for a long time, at least 20 years. There is only a documentary control. There are nine inspectors: five low line 011 and four with line 029, to inspect 23 thousand registered buses,” he said.
On how many inspectors will be needed, Guerra pointed out that it would be necessary to decentralize or deconcentrate the function of the DGT nationwide.
“The buses Pullman They are the least problems. The barbecues are the real inconvenience; It seems that some carriers are interested in there is no control, “he explained.
“All the conditions in which buses operate are designed to generate traffic acts,” Guerra said.