The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and other stakeholders have called for the creation of separate routes for trailers to curb incessant fatal accidents involving articulated vehicles and other road users. This is even as the Lagos State Government has said that the provision of the road traffic law, restricting trailers and long vehicles from plying the metropolis between 6am and 9pm, will now be fully enforced.
The move follows the accident on Wednesday in Lagos, where a container on a 40-feet trailer fell off the Ojuelegba Bridge onto the road below, killing three people, as the fallen container crushed two private vehicles that were in motion.
The stakeholders, who spoke with our correspondents in separate interviews on Friday, also urged the government to restrict the movement of articulated vehicles to midnight and put in place mechanism to ensure strict compliance.
The Head of Media, Federal Road Safety Corps, Bisi Kazeem, said, “It is possible to have a bypass or separate route for trailers.”
A lawyer and human rights activist, Festus Keyamo also asked government to restrict the movement of trailers to nighttime.
The President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alhaji Remi Bello, who recalled that the government had tried to restrict heavy-duty vehicles from moving during the day, said articulated vehicles should only be allowed to move at night.
Bello said there should be “regular enforcement to ensure that trucks and trailers do not pass through prohibited roads. I could recollect that they were sometimes outlawed from climbing bridges. I don’t know why they still use the bridges. I think enforcement is very key.”
He also recalled that in the past, overhead barriers were erected at the bridge entry points to prevent those vehicles from passing through bridges.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Oluseyi Whenu, who spoke on Sunday against the backdrop of the fatal Ojuelegba accident, said the trailer involved in the accident contravened Section 2 (i) (ii) of the Lagos State Road Traffic Law.
Whenu said, “The state government will henceforth go tough on any trailer and long vehicle that contravened the law, as such vehicle will be impounded and made to pay the stipulated fine accordingly.”
The state traffic law barring trailers from travelling within the Lagos metropolis between 6am and 9pm states that “any driver found contravening the provisions of this section shall have his vehicle impounded by a duly authorised officer of the authority and shall upon conviction be liable to a fine of N50,000 or a term of imprisonment for six months or both.”
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