IT was such a horrendous scene that I couldn’t get over for some time. I left home for work that fateful day, looking forward to an eventful day. But alas, the whole of the day was messed up by the wayward action of a naughty ‘danfo’ (commercial bus) driver. We were caught in the typical Lagos early morning traffic gridlock which wasn’t really as bad as it used to be because it was a moving traffic.
My mind was not actually on the traffic situation as I had an urgent task to accomplish that auspicious morning. As I thought about how I would carry out the pressing assignment, I looked up and behold there was this ‘Danfo’ bus that had moved completely out of our line and had faced on coming vehicles in what I considered a very audacious display of lawlessness and haughtiness. He drove in such reckless fashion that every oncoming vehicle had to delicately swerve to avoid a collision with it.
Sadly, a heavy duty lorry which, perhaps, was oblivious of the stray ‘danfo’, was approaching and within a twinkling of an eye, there was a collision between the lorry and the ‘danfo’ and what followed is better seen than imagined. It was such a horrible scene. By now, the whole place was in serious disarray as commuters, pedestrians and other road users ran helter-skelter in utter confusion. Thanks to some brave guys who put a call through to the Lagos State Ambulance Service, ambulance came in no time to ferry wounded commuters in the ‘danfo’ for emergency medical care. The whole place had become a mess of sort. The goods in the heavy duty lorry littered everywhere.
The hitherto moving gridlock had now become completely motionless with serious overriding impact on adjourning and other link roads along the route. It took the combine efforts of men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, Federal Road Safety officials, traffic police and others to put the traffic situation back to normality. By now, I have spent about four hours on an otherwise 30 minutes trip. In Lagos, danfo drivers are notorious for contravening traffic laws.
They flout traffic rules with impunity by driving against traffic, carrying excess passengers, picking passengers at un-designated places, over -speeding among many others. They act in such unruly manner that makes them Lords in their own right. In Lagos, impunity is a way of life for the ‘danfo’ driver. Though, the traditional Lagos traffic jam occurs as a result of many factors, it is, however, aggravated by human induced actions such as reckless driving, illegal parking, street and roadside trading, ‘beating’ traffic lights among other traffic instructions. Often, failure of motorists, to obey traffic rules and regulations lead to crippling traffic snarls.
Sadly, traffic chaos lead to economic losses arising from delays, diminished productivity, wasted energy, environmental degradation, a diminished standard of living, missed appointments, higher fuel bill, and diverse health challenges. This, no doubt, poses great threat to the State’s viability as a decent place to live, visit and invest in. Public transportation is too important and strategic to be committed into the hands of unruly and disorganised persons.
This could jeopardise socio-economic potentials of the city. The traffic situation of every city determines the volume of investment that it attracts. No sane investor would want to put his money in a place that is renowned for irresponsible traffic behaviour. Concerned authorities should, therefore, address the issue of public transportation in the State. The scope of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system needs to be expanded.
Universally, BRT has the capacity to move huge numbers of people from one place to the other at a time in a faster and more convenient way. It operates on the concept of utilising dedicated lanes in areas where competition with highway traffic would be greatest while it makes use of existing highways and roads in areas that are less congested in order to reduce cost. BRT, if well managed, could help to reduce traffic chaos in the State. Thus, new busses should be injected into the fleet so that it could meet more needs, particularly in areas with greater population density such as Badagry, Mowe-Ibafo axis, Sango-Ota axis, Alimosho among others.
Also, the BRT scheme could be planned to include commuting within short distances within a particular local government or location. The efficiency with which people, goods and services can move from one point to the other largely determines the quality of life of a society. Hence, every investment and every effort geared towards sanitizing the sector is not misplaced. By Samuel Omojoye
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