By Olorundare Enimola
The tollgate end of the Lagos – Abeokuta expressway in Sango Ota, Ogun state, known for its traffic bedlam and incessant road crashes was partially reopened on Thursday last week, following months of diversion of traffic to one lane, due to construction works carried out by Julius Berger.
For many years before the reconstruction of the tollgate axis of the Lagos – Abeokuta expressway which is still ongoing, the axis was notorious for a high number of road crashes, deaths and fatalities of road users, this is aside its perennial, nightmarish and seemingly intractable traffic gridlocks.
Realising the recalcitrant nature of motorists especially commercial drivers who are the major factor behind the negative traffic statistics in place against the old tollgate, traffic managers from the Nigeria Police, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC and Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, TRACE, in charge of the axis carried out a joint operation on Friday last week to put measures in place to reduce the factors leading to the harrowing traffic situations experienced by road users in the past.
At the joint sensitisation campaign, DSP Bimpe Shodeinde, DTO, Nigeria Police, Area Command, Sango Ota, told the crowd of commercial transport operators to desist from parking by the road side, now that the road has been reconstructed to enhance free movement of vehicles, especially trucks.
She said: “As you can see, the road has been expanded to enhance free flow of traffic, but the expansion comes with a lot of responsibility on road users, particularly those of you who are commercial drivers that are always on the road.
“Henceforth, it is forbidden for you to park by the highway, or drive against oncoming traffic. You are to use your dedicated garages, you should therefore, tell your people to henceforth move to those garages.
“We are tired of parking dead bodies on the road and you should be tired of losing your colleagues needlessly. Protect your lives and those of others”, she added.
Speaking on behalf of the Federal Road Safety Corps, A.I. Shammah, said: “The initial design allowing vehicles to do U-Turn at the junction of Ilo-Awela road is no longer in place and allowed, any vehicle that will turn will have to go to Amje bus stop to do that.
“As you can see, this is a major expressway with a high volume of traffic that requires constant free flow of its traffic. Equally, owing to the sloppy nature of the Ilo-Awela junction at the expressway, it is not structurally proper for vehicles to make a u-turn at this point. Any driver making u-turn at this point will have his vehicle apprehended and the driver prosecuted.”
Cdr. Adekunle Ajibade, Area Commander, TRACE, Ogun West, reiterated what his colleagues has said, but added, “We were instructed to come over here to clear the tollgate of any encumbrance to the free flow of traffic, but we decided to carry out this sensitisation before embarking on enforcement.
“Remember we are in the yuletide season already; as usual there will be a higher volume of vehicle plying the roads due to increased economic activities, resulting also in the increase of dangers on the roads.
“It is no longer going to be acceptable for vehicles to park indiscriminately to pick passengers while obstructing the flow of traffic, especially against the movement of trucks. So we implore you to move your vehicles away from obstructing others trying to get on the Lagos – Abeokuta highway so as to forestall any kind of mishap reminiscent of the previous months before the reconstruction.” Ajibade added.
In response to the instructions of the traffic officials, Comrade Femi Adepeju, Secretary, Tricycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria, TORAN, said: “Much as we would like to comply with these directives, it is going to be difficult for us to travel to Amje bus stop in Lagos to do u-turn, because tricycle riding is banned on Lagos highways.
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