Chaotic Traffic in Urban Cities

Babatunde Olubanjo suggests ways to restore sanity to the seemingly intractable traffic gridlocks in some cities

The traffic situation in most urban cities of Nigeria like Lagos and Abuja is unacceptably frustrating to say the least. These awkward traffic situations need not be so because the major causes of traffic congestion are issues we can readily address and minimize if not altogether eliminate with dedicated planning and purposeful execution. Purposeful execution in this context refers to applying the laws equally to all citizens without exceptions. I am also convinced that with the solutions I will recommend, we will not only solve the traffic problems but do same profitably from the government point of view. We will thus end up having a win-win situation for the stakeholders. However, before proffering solutions, it is necessary that I first briefly provide some details on the current and desired states of traffic in a typical urban city like Lagos.

The current traffic situation in Lagos for example is frustrating, exhausting, hazardous and economically crippling. Covering a distance of about two to five kilometres could take hours depending on where you are headed. I will reference a few personally frustrating experiences to buttress my claim.

I headed for Gbagada from Festac Town on a Saturday afternoon to attend a birthday celebration of an in-law of mine. I left Festac around 11:30 am with the hope of meeting the celebrants in Church by 1:00pm. The supposedly fastest route is to go through Festac Link bridge and turn around in Mile 2 to Apapa-Oshodi Expressway towards Gbagada. The traffic on the service lanes in Mile 2 was stagnant as those lanes were completely blocked by 18-wheeler tankers and container trucks. So I decided to go to Berger through the inner lanes and turn around. That was a tactical error as I did not get to Gbagada, venue of the party until 7:30 pm by which time the party proper after the service had shut down for lack of power and the celebrant was about leaving the venue of the party. There was even one-way traffic against the normal flow of traffic on the inner lanes from Cele to Mile 2 by commercial drivers avoiding traffic on the other side of the road which is their designated route, thus worsening the traffic situation.

Currently, one should avoid going to Apapa anyway as all routes down there are fully blocked by tankers and trailers. It is unfortunate that we stand by and witness a situation whereby one needs over one day for a trip to Apapa.

This unacceptable and unfavorable situation is exacerbated by the following:

We find cows and goats (defined as category one) on highways and other unacceptable locations like schools and commercial centres. These are certainly not authorized to ply the roads and should be prevented at all costs from being considered as road users.

Wheelers and Okada (defined as category two) drivers also make their presence felt riding indiscriminately on highways against the stipulated flow of traffic most of the time. There is need to regulate and control when, where, how and under what circumstances these category of road users can ply roads.

Then there are the three-wheelers from garbage wooden or iron trucks through Keke Maruwa (defined as category three) also plying highways indiscriminately, stopping at any and all points on the route without a care for other road users either to pick or drop garbage or riders and most times against the normal flow of traffic. There is absolute need to regulate and control when, where, how and under what circumstances these category of road users can ply roads. There are also the four-wheelers including private cars and SUV’s and the notoriously uncultured and undisciplined commercial vehicle drivers popularly called danfo (defined as category four).

Closely following the danfos are the six-10-wheel vehicles (defined as category five) including commercial trucks popularly called Molue. Then we have the over 10-wheel trucks (defined as category six) including tankers and trailers also plying our roads. Finally, there are those special purpose vehicles that ply the roads that we will group in category seven. The desired state of traffic has the following characteristics: There is continuous and uninhibited flow of traffic occasioned by: well-designed and well-built roads able to cope with the weight and number of vehicles; good roads complete with all necessary road signage including speed limits and lane markings devoid of potholes and foreign objects; complete absence of cows, goats and other animals on the roads; restriction of two and three-wheel vehicles to specific roads assigned to them and ensuring they all keep to road regulations and instructions; complete ban on all and every type of hawking on highways; strict and impartial enforcement of traffic rules and regulations especially those that deal with driving against the flow of traffic, indiscriminate parking, stopping to drop or pick passengers at any other place but designated parking and bus-stops; not adhering to speed limits as it relates to maximum and minimum speeds allowable on specific roads or sections thereof; disobedience of road signs either by deliberate action, ignorance or incompetence thereby causing accidents; keeping drivers deemed incompetent by virtue of intoxication, drunkenness, temporary insanity, health challenges and other similar hazardous conditions off the roads at all material times by even and impartial enforcement of heavy punishments including sanctions to offenders. In proffering solutions, I will first list the problems. The obvious causes of traffic congestion in Lagos and urban cities of Nigeria can be conveniently classified into two main groups. These are government and driver related issues. Bad roads that are not well designed and built for the type and volume of traffic; inadequate or complete absence of road signs and instructions, and lane markings and pavements; inadequate traffic laws and where there are laws, non-enforcement of same.

Driver related issues are numerous and need to be handled with purposeful dedication. These include: indiscipline on behalf of drivers, incompetence of drivers, lack of consideration for other road users, deliberate negligence on the part of some drivers, lack of sense of order and control.

The current practice whereby trucks, tankers and other heavy-duty vehicles are parked on roads and bridges in Lagos is unacceptable. This practice should be stopped at the earliest opportunity more so since the drivers of these trucks work for private enterprises which can afford to keep their trucks off the roads while pursuing their legitimate businesses and making profit. Government should use a combination of clamping, towing, fines, seizures, auctions and imprisonments of owners to prevent those trucks from parking on highways. The owners can certainly afford the costs associated with operating without endangering the lives of all other citizens and exposing our roads and bridges to early and permanent failures.

From the government end, there is the need to completely overhaul existing laws and regulations and enact new ones at the federal and state levels that are responsive and effective for these times. The new laws should be both corrective and punitive enough to force people to change and comply.

Government should use a combination of clamping, towing, fines, seizures, auctions and imprisonments of owners to prevent those trucks from parking on highways