The overzealousness of Traffic Officers in Lagos is such that If Lagosians have been wounded by the recklessness of commercial bus drivers, so too have they been stricken by the methodical overzealousness of either the Police, VIO or LASTMA officials who often choose to enforce the law that is within their power by paradoxically breaking it.
There is no denying the fact that Traffic Officers that cut across the Police, VIO, and LASTMA officers are common sights on roads in Lagos, and that they are saddled with the responsibility of bringing sanity to roads in the State in order to curb the rate of accidents on the various highways. In the estimation of some observers, the collective operation of Traffic Officers in the State is commendable while to other people, it is by each passing day leaving much to be desired.
However, in the assessment of this writer, Traffic Officers in Lagos; regardless of the agency or formation they are affiliated to have been doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. They are usually called to a great deal of task in the last quarter of every year which have been tagged the “EMBER” months, which is invariably a period that has come to be associated with more accidents and loss of lives on major roads in the State. Indeed available statistics on the “EMBER” months represent a grim reality that evokes fear in many Lagosians nay Nigerians who have now come to label them the “notorious months”.
Even without statistics, common sense will tell one that accidents and deaths are higher during these “EMBER” months because of the razzmatazz that trails the period and various festivities lined up during the period and which warrant much more travelling from one part of the State to another. It is a period when commercial drivers cash in to make more money through overloading, excessive speeding, among others; even when they have satiated themselves with sachet alcoholic drinks that are ubiquitous at major bus-stops.
Unbiasedly put, if roads in Lagos are not specially manned by Traffic Officers, the number of accidents and deaths would have been higher because Lagos is a city where everybody is literarily in a hurry. They are usually seen rushing home or back from one business point to the other, and most drivers are usually impatient as they rush to make more money from passengers and so they over-speed, overload without being cautious of the consequences of their actions.
In fact, despite series of sensitization that are aimed at imbuing sanity in commercial drivers in the State on the need to be more cautious in the course of driving, they (drivers) tend to ignore the lessons and opt for reckless driving in their desperate bid to make more money. As it seems, Traffic Officers in the State are trying their best but their best is not yet the best because these drivers are very volatile, and not few bad eggs recruited into virtually all arms of traffic management in the State are overzealous and corrupt so much that they are easily influenced, financially, by these reckless drivers.
But simultaneously, the Traffic Officers are frittering away their gains in a continuing onrush of official lawlessness. In the pursuit of success at any cost and in the battle against a foe that is reckless and does not play by the rules, the officers are by each passing day leaving behind dents on their collective image that no success will be able to obliterate.
The overzealousness of Traffic Officers in Lagos is such that If Lagosians have been wounded by the recklessness of commercial bus drivers, so too have they been stricken by the methodical overzealousness of either the Police, VIO or LASTMA officials who often choose to enforce the law that is within their power by paradoxically breaking it.
It is always a horrific experience whenever Traffic Officers are seen chasing any driver found to have violated traffic rule. The officers would be seen in their patrol van cruising at neck-breaking speed. If the patrol van is equipped with siren, it would be blaring with earsplitting sound. Unfortunately, in the movies, high-speed chases by traffic officers are often thrilling and sometimes explosive, but on the streets of Lagos it is a different story as Public Safety is involved.
It is against the backdrop of the foregoing that one would suggest in this context that Traffic Officers of whichever hue; being it Police, VIO or LASTMA officers must assess the potential danger to other road users before starting a high-speed pursuit, and consider factors like traffic conditions and the recklessness of the offending vehicle.
At this juncture, permit me to say that the inspiration to express this view came from the accident that occurred at Grammar School Bus-Stop yesterday where some students were feared dead in the Ojodu area of Lagos State after a truck ran into them on their way to their various homes. An eyewitness said the accident which occurred at about 3:00 pm claimed the lives of unknown number of students with others injured from the scene. The victims, according to the eyewitness, are students of Ojodu Grammar School.
While the cause of the accident was not immediately known, Eons Intelligence, an emergency alert provider, said “reports indicate that activities of Road safety and VIO led to an articulated vehicle losing control, killing several schoolchildren, injured others in Ojodu Berger Lagos, axis.”
However, the Lagos Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has denied involvement of its officers in the accident as Olabisi Sonusi, the spokesperson the Lagos sector had in a Statement stated that FRSC officers were called after the incident occurred and were not involved in it.
He stated, “An articulated truck was said to have lost control at Grammar School Bus stop along Ogunnusi road, Lagos today, Tuesday 7th December, 2021 which caused the death of unverified number of students and leaving many injured.
“The men of FRSC were called upon by passersby to help intervene after the crash had happened.
“About seven (7) of the victims were rescued and immediately taken to Lagos State Emergency Centre Ojota by FRSC personnel while another road user helped in carrying about seven (7) also to the same emergency centre,” the statement reads.
Be that as it may, there was unanimity of views that the accident could have being avoided if the Traffic Officers that caused the mayhem were cognizant of the fact that by chasing the vehicle within such crowded axis like Ojodu-Berger that they were putting their lives and other road users’ lives in danger just because they want to get the driver apprehended, and demand bribe from him as usually the case. Against the foregoing backdrop, not few people suggested that the Traffic Officers that caused the accident ought to have think that while chasing the driver, there are other road users still using the road.
It is expedient to caution these traffic officers as an African proverb has it that “If the keg of palm-wine is not quickly snatched from the hands of an exuberant drunk, he may drink himself to stupor.” A similar proverb also says “If an overzealous child is not assisted by his elders when roasting yams in the farm, he may innocently set the farm and the hut ablaze”.
Isaac Asabor
