The Nation Newspaper

Tag: road accident

  • Better approach to road accident prevention (II)

    The focus on the use of high fines to prevent reckless driving may not be very effective because traffic offenders believe that they are not likely to be caught.

    However, drivers should be made to take more responsibility for what is occurring on the roads. This will be more effective than slamming ridiculously high fines on traffic offenders.

    •All categories of drivers and vehicle owners must be made to undergo regular refresher courses because peer influence in driving cannot be over looked. There is always the tendency for those obeying traffic rules to renege and imitate the errant drivers.

    •Public and private sector organisations must be encouraged or compelled to regularly train their drivers because of the level of irreparable lives and properties being lost through driver errors and allied factors.

    •Insurance companies should have incentives such as discount on premiums for individuals and organisations that sponsored their drivers for re-training programmes. This will encourage driver training and development for accident prevention in the country. This has been very effective in countries such as United States.

    •As Nigerian Governments and Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) have been focusing on the campaign against HIV/AIDS, they should focus even more attention on the campaign against Road Accidents which is killing more people than HIV/AID and at a faster rate.

    •There should be no sacred cow or VIP in the enforcement of road traffic laws and regulations. Leaders or VIPs are expected to lead by example and anything contrary must be resisted vehemently.

    I further challenge the Federal and atate Ministries of Transport, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), state traffic management agencies and other stakeholders to come together in a result-oriented conference to deliberate on the above and other related issues with the aim of coming up with a common resolution to be implemented at the Federal and state levels to enhance the war against road crashes and fatalities. Otherwise, Nigeria will have little or nothing to show at the end of the United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety in 2020 and the Accra Declaration on Road Safety having failed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing fatality rate through road safety. The goal of all should be to put the safety of lives far above income generation and stop every form of masquerading or pretence.

    There has been cases of these Federal and state governments agencies, competing and blackmailing themselves to secure the contract for the training of the drivers of some blue-chip companies. Can we say their interest is in the drivers safety on the road or on financial gain?

    There was even a very funny development where one of the government agencies threatened to be arresting the drivers of a blue chip company if they fail to give them the contract for the training of their drivers. Is it not obvious now, where their interests are?

    The regulations guiding the operation of some of these Agencies recognises the driving schools as the trainers of drivers (fresh and re-training).

    I am very sure that if this matter is not properly addressed as suggested in this article, Nigeria will continue to move in circles in the war against road crashes and fatalities without making any meaningful impact.

    The National and state Assemblies must objectively rise up to this challenge to ensure that the relevant legislations are amended or enacted to address the issues raised in this article because if the right steps are not taken to efficiently and effectively address the road safety and road traffic engineering challenges, the consequences can affect anyone in Nigeria no matter the status because we and our loved ones all use the Nigeria roads at one time or the other.

  • Road accident shuts down Lagos

    Road accident shuts down Lagos

    It was a six-hour traumatic moment in parts of Lagos, the nation’s commercial nerve-centre, yesterday. Agonised motorists and commuters gnashed their teeth in helplessness, following an auto accident on the Ikeja axis of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

    A trailer carrying two loaded containers, which fell on an Eko Meat Van marked XY433AAA, wreaked the havoc, killing the van’s driver and one bystander. Three other occupants of the vehicle were injured.

    The accident, which occurred directly opposite the Muslim Praying Ground at Ile Zik bus stop, caused a long queue of vehicles from Ikeja/Iyana-Ipaja route, spreading all the way to Mushin and its environs.

    Thousands of people trekked to their destinations. Train services from both directions were temporarily suspended, while security agencies had it herculean controlling the mammoth crowd at the scene.

    Horrified, many took pictures of the scene with their mobile phones; others simply took pictures of themselves at the scene for keeps.

    The cause of the accident was laid sorely at the feet of the police. It was learnt from eyewitnesses that at about 9:30 am, a police van on patrol along the expressway sighted a commercial motorcyclist popularly called okada, apparently flouting the Lagos traffic law banning bikes from the highways, and gave it a chase.

    The motorcyclist, unwilling to forfeit his bike to the police, decided to make a run for it but in the process, it lost control and fell, throwing its two passengers on the ground. The Eko Meat Van was said to have been forced to a screeching halt. The loaded articulated lorry marked AKD 964 XB, was also making its way towards Iyana-Ipaja.

    The trailer, it was said, hit the van from behind, causing it to spin around. The driver did his best to avoid a collision. It swerved to the right, but lost control and veered into the pavement.

    Four bystanders managed to escape thorough the drainage channel, but one was unlucky. As he attempted to run towards the rail line, he was crushed to death by a fallen container. He was identified as Gbenga, a manager at Slot a computer and phone company.

    When the policemen saw the carnage that occurred, they allegedly shot tear gas into the air to scare off the public and paved the way for their escape. No one got the identities of the policemen and their vehicle’s registration number.

    An eyewitness who works at Anifowoshe Primary School, opposite the scene of the accident, said: “I sat down here when it happened. I saw the trailer hit the man and the container dropped on him; he died instantly. Also, the police van that caused the accident ran away.”

    Another eyewitness, Kehinde Bereola, told The Nation: “The policemen passed by my car right here. They were chasing the bike man and the trailer was trying to avoid the van and the okada. That was how this accident happened. While running away, the policemen shot tear gas in the air and escaped. I saw everything that happened.”

    The Nation learnt that it took almost 20 minutes before emergency operators arrived at the scene. Officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) were said to be the first to get there, but could do very little to save the situation.

    According to the South West Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Iyiola Akande, rescue operations were delayed by the late arrival of the crane.

    “The crane could not get here on time because of the traffic; so, we tried to use our own cutters to cut the scrap. The two containers were loaded; it was not an easy job, but since the crane arrived, we have had more progress and there is hope.”

    Other emergency management agencies at the scene included: Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Marine Navy and the Nigeria Police, led by Assistant Commissioner (Operations) Emma Ngwu.

    Commuters recounted their agonies.

    “I walked from Cappa in Ilupeju to Ikeja. I am almost crippled now and I cannot go any further; that is why I have decided to stay in this van. Today is finished; if I can get out of here, I’m going home,” Sola Richards said.

    A motorist, Adebayo Olusoji, said he got to the accident site at 10 am and had remained stuck in the traffic for five hours. He said: “I think the police overreacted in the issue of ban on okada. People now label okada as “police ATM.” There is no sense in chasing bikes. Now, see what it has caused. My lost revenue today cannot be compared with the lives that were lost.”

    Soji Babatunde, a commercial driver, also lamented his wasted day. “I did morning shift from Sango to Oshodi. I was coming from my second trip when I got into this misfortune. Now, if this traffic clears, I am not working again. I have not been able to meet up my payment for today,” he said.

    But as many were moaning their losses, others were rejoicing. Small-scale entrepreneurs and road-side sellers cashed in on the opportunity to do brisk businesses.

    Chinoso Mbamoh said he had sold more than six cartons of Gala sausage rolls, an increase of almost 50 percent of his usual sale.

    Some commercial bus drivers also made the best use of the situation by declaring a party in the middle of the road. Loud fuji music tunes blasting from their buses, dry gin passed from one hand to the other and road-side food sellers became emergency caterers as they made quick gains from providing refreshment for the impromptu party.

    “We don’t have a choice; we don’t know when we will leave here. The day is already spoilt, so we should just enjoy ourselves,” said Olalekan Amujo, one of the stranded drivers.

    The trailer and the van were removed from the scene at 3.30 pm, while the injured were taken to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

    The driver of the meat van was said to have died at the hospital, while the whereabouts of the bike rider was unknown. “He ran through the gutter, you can still see his footprint here,” a NEMA official said.

    The state police spokesperson, Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Ngozi Braide, could not be reached for comment on the incident.

  • Six dead in road accident

    Six people have died while returning from a funeral at Arochukwu as the bus in which they were travelling collided with a car at Ohafia, Abia State.

    The accident occurred near the Goodluck Jonathan Barracks of the 14 Brigade, Ohafia.

    A soldier said he was on duty at the main entrance of the barracks when the bus tried to overtake a vehicle but rammed into the car, which was coming in the opposite direction.

    He said the bus, somersaulted hitting another bus parked close by, killing six people in the process.

    An eyewitness, Lazarus Idika, said he was working in his workshop when he heard a loud sound which made him to head towards the source of the sound, and that on reaching there he saw the vehicles with passengers trapped inside.

    He said: “We decided to break the bus with axes and diggers to bring out the bodies that were trapped and save the survivors.

    “The passengers in the car -a man and a woman- were injured. They were taken to the hospital and are responding to treatment.”

    A survivor said the passengers were returning from a funeral at Arochukwu. He said they were really pressed for time, which must have been why the driver was speeding.

    “The driver was speeding but he became careless. He did not check before overtaking; there was no way the accident could have been avoided,” he said.

    Police spokesman Geoffrey Ogbomna could not be reached for comments.

  • 10 die in Kano road accident

    A 12-month-old baby, his mother and eight others were burnt to death in an accident at Takai Local Government Area of Kano State on Monday night.

    An eyewitness account described the accident, which occurred at 11 pm on Kano-Kwari Road, as gruesome, adding that the victims were occupants of a Golf car, which collided with a heavy duty vehicle, near Takai Bridge.

    According to a resident in the area, the Golf car overtook another vehicle at a sharp corner and collided with a trailer coming from the opposite direction.

    It was also learnt that the flames from the Golf car spread to other vehicles in the vicinity.

    The driver of the heavy-duty vehicle was, however, lucky as he survived the accident. But he sustained first degree burns.

    The Nation learnt that he is responding to treatment at the Takai General Hospital.

    Confirming the accident, the Head of Operation, Federal Road Safety Corps, Kano Command, Malam Kabiru Nadabo, said: “Ten people died in the accident.”

    He attributed it to “a dangerous overtaking by the driver of the Golf car.”