Monday 2 November 2009

Road Safety: Over-speeding


If you are visiting Lagos metropolis for the first time on a sunday afternoon, you will probably make the same remarks someone made to me sometimes ago when I asked of his impression of the city. He was particularly impressed about the smooth movements of vehicles on the road as against what he previously heard about traffic situations in the state. He was quick to point out however that he suspected motorists were not obeying the speed limits regulation as he saw private and commercial vehicles cruising at high speed. He felt the rate of accident would be high if nothing was done about the speed. Of course, as you would expect, I was quick to tell him that there is a highway code in Nigeria that stipulates allowable speed for different categories of vehicle as well as locations; of which the acceptable maximum is not more than 100Km/Hr in most cases.


You may be quick to ask why this preamble. Well, yesterday (Sunday November 1, 2009) at about 3.00PM in the afternoon, coming from the Victoria Island through the 3rd mainland bridge, I observed a rather strange long vehicle traffic and I heard a whisper in my ears...'an accident has just occurred.' This can only be the reason for this long queue i concluded...& I was not wrong at all... a few minutes later, what I saw is the picture in this article. What a sight! I am sure there is a question on your lips right now...as I had on mine as I adjusted on my seat to see what has become of a commercial vehicle popularly called danfo in Lagos. How on earth did this bus climb up this height over one metre of concrete mass on a bright sunny afternoon? Only two answers readily come to mind: a crane must have lifted it up the concrete beam or it climbed it. The latter seemed very unlikely for me to accept but alas! that was exactly what happened. The bus climbed the beam as a result of impact from excessive speed.


This is one of the many types of accidents that have been witnessed on this bridge...vehicles somersaulting, plunging into the lagoon, to mention but a few.

Over-speeding accounts for a large percentage of causes of accidents on our roads and the consequences are obvious. The advice is simple...over-speeding kills...so kill your speed and stay alive. The choice is yours and not the vehicles.'

2 comments:

Staff said...

Accident don't just happen they are cause? if really you have maintained or looked to the road sign will it be caused?? or is there no road sign in Nigeria? wait a minute do you even have a car?

Mary Ogungbola said...

Thanks for the constant reminder.. that safety isn't costly neither does it delay but rather elongate one's lifespan.