Free roads: LASTMA cautions drivers on speed

The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has expressed concern over excessive speed by some drivers, due to the free roads resulting from the lockdown over the Coronavirus pandemic.

The General Manager of LASTMA, Mr Olajide Oduyoye, expressed concern in an interview with our reporter on Wednesday in Lagos.

He said that while monitoring the road traffic situation on Tuesday in several areas of the state, his team observed dangerous speed by exempted articulated vehicles and others because roads were free.

“I have gone out to Lagos Mainland, Lagos Island, Agege, Egbe-Idimu and others just to monitor the roads and what the LASTMA officers are doing, since there is still traffic movement for essential service deliveries.

“Now that the roads are near empty, what I noticed is the speed of lorries and trucks. These are the ones that pretend they are tankers (delivering fuel) but because the road is free, the speed is too much.

“Such speed is a crash waiting to happen. I am very worried; as we try to run away from Coronavirus, we should not kill ourselves on the roads,” he said.

It was reported that amidst the lockdown, a truck was reported to have crushed six persons to death in a commercial taxi at Epe Long-bridge, Epe Expressway on Tuesday evening in the state.

Oduyoye said that there was a need to drive carefully on the roads to avoid accidents.

“The truth of the matter is that there is no need to speed, because there is no traffic on the road,” he said.

According to him, LASTMA officers are on the road to deal with all emergencies and evacuate all breakdowns.

“Drivers need to appreciate that LASTMA officers are there, so they should not overrun them or disobey them. The traffic rules still need to be respected, so that we don’t have issues during the lockdown.

“Let all motorists exempted from the lockdown obey the traffic rules and regulations,” Oduyoye said.

Assessing motorists’ compliance with the movement restriction order, the LASTMA boss said that the compliance was between 90 per cent and 95 per cent.

Oduyoye urged the residents to know that the lockdown was for the collective safety of everybody, saying LASTMA as a government agency would continue to educate and enlighten people.

It was reported that President Muhammadu Buhari, in a presidential broadcast on the pandemic on Sunday, directed cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days with effect from 11p.m. on Monday.

Buhari, who noted that this restriction would also apply to Ogun due to its close proximity to Lagos and the high traffic between the two states, said that the step was to stop spread of the virus.

Specified categories of people, who provide health, security and essential services, were, however, exempted from the restriction.