LASTMA Saves 12 Souls Involve in a Road Crash; drivers training, vehicle inspection demand more drastic approach
2 min read
The commercial bus rammed into the rear of a fully loaded fuel tanker
A private commercial bus plying Ketu, Mowe, to Shagamu, with registration number, KJA 364 YA, has rammed into a moving fuel tanker inward Berger from Ojota/Secretariat express road, thus trapping about a dozen passengers while one person died on the spot.
The media statement issued by the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, said that preliminary investigation had revealed the driver experienced a failed brake hence, lost control and in the ensuing melee, rammed into the fuel tanker from the rear, but thanks to God there was no fire outbreak.
Moreover, LASTMA operatives who promptly arrived at the scene of the fatal crash rescued 12 passengers trapped in the dilapidated commercial bus conveying goods and passengers.
Those rescued were handed over to the Medical personnel (Emergency responders) who accompanied LASTMA officials to the accident scene.
However, the General Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Bolaji Oreagba, warned motorists particularly commercial bus drivers to always ensure that their vehicles are in good condition before embarking on any journey within or outside the State.
IMPERATIVES OF DRIVERS’ TRAINING, VEHICLE INSPECTION
Truth be told, well over 80 percent of the 14-seater commercial buses plying Ketu, Mowe to Shagamu, are moving scraps fit only for the graveyard, or to be recycled.
Casting a glance at those buses, one will without much ado, find out they are outworn and several corroded parts are all in the open for anyone who cares; not to talk of what checks by trained traffic managers or personnel of the vehicle inspection service will reveal.
Imminent is the need to evolve a strategy to capture these interstate drivers and their vehicles on that axis to be trained by the Lagos State Drivers Institute, LASDRI, and to conduct a physical inspection of their vehicles by the Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Service, LSVIS, on the very few commercial buses plying that axis.
Serious incidents and accidents by those types of commercial buses in their various brands, Toyota Hiace, Mazda, etc, are a time bomb merely ticking away to explode
Succinctly put, less than ten percent of vehicles plying that route; Ketu, Ojodu-Berger, Enroute Mowe/Ibafo to Shagamu, and those that initiate their trips from Oshodi and plying that same route outward from Lagos to Mowe, can be found to pass any test by the Lagos State VIS.
The roadworthiness of over 90 percent of those vehicles is very much suspect.
We pray they don’t inadvertently become a moving coffin.
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