A painter, Mr Tunji Oredipe, has relived how he lost his brother, Akeem, in an accident at Gbagada bus stop, along Gbagada-Oshodi expressway, Lagos.
Akeem died after he was hit by a car while crossing the road.
According to him, “My brother was trying to cross the road without noticing that a car was coming on high speed. The car hit my brother, cut his body into pieces and he died instantly.”
He said his brother went to buy electrical parts at Oshodi.
“My brother boarded a bus from Oshodi and alighted at Gbagada Bus Stop. The car hit and killed him instantly while he was crossing the road.”
Oredipe, who pleaded with the government to construct a pedestrian bridge at the bus stop, said his brother would probably not have died if there was a flyover there.
He recalled the death of a woman and her three daughters about a year ago in the area.
Oredipe said: “The woman was driving in her car with her three daughters when a man tried to cross the road without observing that a car was coming. She tried to avoid the pedestrian but instead of hitting him, her car hit the pavement. She and her three daughters died before they could be rushed to Gbagada General Hospital.”
Residents and road users also pleaded with Governor Akinwumi Ambode to construct a pedestrian bridge at the bus stop.
Many of them lamented the frequent deaths on the road through “reckless driving and over-speeding.”
At Gbagada Phase II Bus Stop, Michael Adeiye, explained that crossing the expressway is risky, because pedestrians have to monitor two lanes on one side of the road and three lanes on the other side.
He said it was confusing and dangerous for hundreds of people who used the road daily.
A resident, Goke Adeyinka, said the construction of the bridge would ease movement within and outside Gbagada.
Another resident, Abiye Williams, a farmer, described the bus stop as “walls of death”. He said it was dangerous for school children, who crossed the road daily.
He added: “A lot of pregnant women also cross the road to get to Gbagada General Hospital. I call the bus stop the walls of death and I feel pained when I see people crossing because it was dangerous.”