Cabinet has approved a review of the rules and safety measures for moving prefabricated houses on Belize’s national highways. The review runs from Nov. 11, 2026 to Jan. 31, 2027, and house moves will continue in the meantime under tighter restrictions and closer supervision by the Ministry of Transportation.
Cabinet says the review responds to growing concern about road safety, about very large loads on public highways, and about the effect on the safety and efficiency of the highway network. It is meant to find ways to strengthen oversight, improve coordination and ensure house moves are safe and orderly.
The review follows a series of deadly collisions with houses being moved on highways.
On October. 10, Police Sergeant Jovanni Ponce, 50, died after his SUV hit a zinc house being carried on a flatbed truck on the George Price Highway, between Miles 42 and 43 near Cotton Tree Village. It happened at about 10:07 p.m. His wife and a child in the vehicle had minor injuries. Transport CEO Chester Williams said the house was 30 feet wide, ten feet wider than regulations allow, and that the mover may not have followed his permit. Police served the truck driver, 58-year-old Barry Espat of Belmopan, with a Notice of Intended Prosecution. The investigation is ongoing.
On December 17, 2025, tour guide Dean Perez, 38, died when his SUV hit a wooden house near Mile 18 on the George Price Highway, around midnight. Police said the house, 22 by 40 feet, was on a flatbed trailer headed from Shipyard, Orange Walk, to Dangriga. It was alleged that the mover had no police or Department of Transport escort, and that the trailer was uninsured and had a faulty rear light.
Pastor Julian Bol had died in a similar crash on the Southern Highway about three weeks earlier. After the two deaths, the Ministry of Transport told permit holders that oversized houses moved at night must be disassembled, and effectively ended night moves of assembled wooden houses. The Ministry had previously limited such moves to nighttime only.
In November 2019, Ladyville resident Myron Martinez, a Belize Port Authority employee, was left in a coma after his vehicle hit a trailer carrying a wooden house on the Philip Goldson Highway at about 3 a.m.
After the Ponce crash, Williams said the ministry was considering inspections before each move, even for annual permit holders, and a possible ban on weekend moves. He said those ideas were not final and awaited Cabinet’s decision. The Belize Home Movers Group has said its members avoid weekend moves and asked about the lighting on the house in the Ponce crash.
Industry estimates put about 3,000 houses on Belize’s highways each year, many after dark.
