I was considering visiting Belize sometime soon but reading these comments from several people does not make me feel welcome.   I would like to visit a country that is welcoming.

I must apologize for the Officer's bad manners, but what do we expect, the traffic wardens here have no training, they are given a badge and a uniform and told to go out a ticket people. No one in the Traffic dept has any kind of formal training in Road Transport, The person who checks the vehicles before issuing a license, does not check the vehicle properly, this is the job of a trained Mechanic, The persons who take people for their driving test have not been trained, so what gives them the right to say if a person is competent to drive.

You only have to watch the roads and see many people breaking the law and getting away with it, including the Police Officers who ride motorcycles without wearing a helmet. The large Trucks, overloaded and with worn out tires or missing wheels,(Thats an accident waiting to happen). Drunken taxi drivers, The list can go on and on.

I feel that the whole of the Traffic Dept needs to be looked into, then perhaps we can avoid our visitors leaving here with a bad memory.

When trafic wardens are present at a check point, they are the ones who issue trafic violation tickets. If police officers where there, they were there to deal with other matters and support the trafic wardens if/when necessary.

So, we cannot jump to conclussion and say that it was a police officer who wrote the ticket and say "Welcome to Belize." A responsible person would first want to see which officer signed the ticket before making a comment.

I agree that the Golf Cart Companies should be held responsible for the licensing, registration, insurance, and all other legally required parts of a vehicle. The tourist/driver is responsible for personal driver license and compliance with trafic laws on the streets for safety of the general public and free flow of traffic.

All the properly trained drivers in the world should be aware of basic traffic laws. The traffic laws of Belize are from the same traffic laws used all over the world, except for England where it is said that you drive on your left hand side of the road or street.

the  wardens  have  all  they  need  for  the  job....transportation...  uniform...badges...ticket  books....pens.....oh....etc.

oh......  and  at  times....too  much    ...    attitude....!!!!

All poor readers. It is not the trafic wardens  that did this dishonorable act.  It is the police officers.  Note the phrase "All of them laughed"  The town Board should send an apology to the tourists telling them we welcome tourists and condemn these ridiculous acts by some officers.  It is not the norm in San Pedro.

Dear Editor and Commentators,

Not all states in the United State (I do not know about other countries) do not require 2 license plates on the car. In many states, you only need one. I do believe that it is a bit ridiculous that we expect tourists here to know such motor vehicle requirements just because they visit the island for a  week or two. As renters of a cart, I am sure they assumed that the rental company had the cart fully licensed and registered.  Maybe a better response from the traffic warden would have been to politely explain that the customer should hand the ticket over to the rental company for payment, and yes, I do believe that the ticket should have been written out to the rental company.They are the ones that are responsible for licensing, registering, and having the cart inspected, and it is up to them to make sure that it remains up to standards.

I am sure we are all aware of how slow this island is currently. This island makes most of its income from tourists and politeness and professionalism go a long way to leave a good impression. We need positive word of mouth, especially when it comes to slow season. A person is much more likely to tell another person of a negative experience that they had than a positive one. And on average, that person is likely to tell not just one but four other people of their negative experience, and those four people tell others. Negative word of mouth spreads much more quickly than anything else.

And finally,. I agree with the comment above, each person chooses whether to make their interactions with others positive or negative, and that works both ways. Maybe we should all strive to treat eachother with respect and kindness.

i totally agree

Well I believe that since the license plate was missing the person that should have gotten the ticket is the rental company, not the tourist!! Since it was a rented cart the trafffic officer should have taken down the cart number and the company name and given the ticket to the Golf cart company.  When a tourist rents a cart they expect that the rental is in good working condition and has all the necessary licenses and requirements.  So I believe that the tourist shouldn't have been given that ticket!! 

I don't think the tourist is complaining about the ticket. I think the complain is about the traffic warden's unprofessional behaviour about the "WELCOME TO BELIZE" and the laughter that followed!!! If there is only two wardens then the town council should realize that we need more and stop trying to help people that don't help themselves. The town council have alot of sweepers or garbage collectors that are drunkards and lazy. That's where the tax payer's money is being wrongly spent. San Pedranos should try help themselves and stop throwing garbage on the street and or educate the kids in schools so the tax payer's money is spent on other important things like more professional traffic wardens.

I agree.. with this comment.... Also, there is always 2 sides to a story, so ppl should not judge.. Wardens seem to have very limited resources at their disposition but also tourists should obey the law just as how Belizeans obey the law in their country. This particular tourist seemed to be frustrated because he was not able to get away by not getting a ticket.