In Lagos, drivers, irrespective of whether they are commercial or private, engage in this with reckless abandon, with many culprits driving three to five kilometres of one-way, just to beat a congested road or gridlock.
To avoid being arrested for flouting the law, they drive on top speed, and in some instances, run over innocent passersby or unsuspecting pedestrians, killing or maiming them in the process.
Take a sample, Daniel (surname withheld), a young reporter, missed death by the whiskers just in front of his office as he bid to cross the road and head home at the close of work, last Monday. He was hit from behind by a vehicle on top speed and fell over, missing being run over by the vehicle by chance. He sustained some bruises that landed him at the hospital.
Abdullahi Saka wasn’t as lucky, he was hit by a reckless driver at the Ilupeju Clover Bridge weeks back on a pitch-dark night. He died on the spot.
Cases inlving driving against traffic, more popularly known by the locals as one-way driving, have become the gravest threat to safe and seamless driving on the sta such practice. the transportation sector last Thursday, the Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, said the government is determined to bring down the ugly culture, which is causing more harm than good to the motoring public. He said it is time that the State’s Transport Sector Reform Law 2018, comes into full force.
The meeting which equally targeted commercial okada operators and their nefarious activities said the government would not hesitate to put the full weight of the law to bear on all operators with a view to sanitising road operations. While for the okada, penalties ranging from N20,000 to three months imprisonment awaits any okada operator who flouts its law forbidding them from running on some selected roads, bridges and local governments, motorists, on the other hand, who drive against traffic risk having their vehicles forfeited.
What the law says
Section 1 of the TSRL 2018 states that any first offender driving okada without helmet would pay a N20,000 fine, while subsequent offenders pay N30,000 fine and an additional three months imprisonment or six months community service.
Section 2 of the law states that anyone driving okada below 200cc engine motorcycle would have the motorcycle impounded.
For motorists, Section 3 states that anyone driving beyond the approved speed limit stands the risk of paying a N100,000 fine, or two years imprisonment or both.
Section five, states that anyone driving in a direction prohibited by the law or neglect of traffic direction. Fines prescribed by the TSRL 2018 was outright forfeiture of the vehicle to the state in addition to one year imprisonment for first offenders, while second risk three years imprisonment in addition to the forfeiture of the vehicle, in addition to the capturing of the serial offenders biometric for eventual blacklisting and certification as a driver on the roads.
Oladeinde insists that the government would no longer condone the lawlessness and indiscipline on any of its roads.
Convener of Safety Without Borders Patrick Adenusi, threw his weight behind the full implementation of the law. He insisted that besides the forfeiture and imprisonment, anyone caught plying one way ought to be asked to undergo medical examination to certify their mental fitness.
“The government is on course. The law is long overdue. Outright forfeiture is the way to go if the government’s determination to sanitise the transport sector must be taken seriously. The lawlessness on our roads is unpardonable, people would just begin to drive against traffic at the slightest sight of an impediment. In some instances, some reckless drivers drive three to four kilometres against traffic and usually on top speed. Many people have been run over from behind. We have seen one way driving even on Third Mainland Bridge, which showed there is no road that these unscrupulous drivers do not drive against traffic. It is common these days to see concrete barricades just to prevent some of these drivers from driving against traffic, this is extremely unacceptable,” Adenusi said.
The Vice Chairman National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Abdulahi Ojora, said the leadership of the union threw its weight behind any initiative aimed at decongesting the roads.
Ojora who said the union is carrying out a lot of sensitisation of its members in all the parks in the state said the leadership would not mediate for anyone caught going against the state’s laws from facing the full wrath of the law.
But the Dean of School of Transportation Prof Samuel Odewunmi however urged the government to exercise caution in the implementation of the TSRL 2018 law in order not to create a conduit to corrupt security operatives who will enforce the law.
