Restore sanity on Abuja roads
A drive in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja will sometimes feel as if the implementation of the Highway Code has been suspended. Motorists and cyclists frequently disobey traffic rules, as if the protection of lives and overall well-being of road users doesn’t matter. For example, obeying traffic rules – road signs, zebra crossings, traffic lights, […]
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A drive in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja will sometimes feel as if the implementation of the Highway Code has been suspended. Motorists and cyclists frequently disobey traffic rules, as if the protection of lives and overall well-being of road users doesn’t matter.
For example, obeying traffic rules – road signs, zebra crossings, traffic lights, speed limits, maintaining lane discipline, wrong overtaking, and being on the road without light or faulty lights, signs or reflectors (for larger vehicles), or wrongful use of signals – seems to be in abeyance.
This makes driving in the capital city look like a law-abiding motorists’ nightmare. What is remaining is bedlam on the roads. Clearly, it shows that officials of the federal government and FCT agencies in charge of traffic control and apprehension of offenders have woefully failed.
With the regular and everyday occurrence in all districts of the FCT where traffic laws are broken at will, deliberately and carelessly disobeyed, irresponsible driving is becoming part of life in the city. It would seem that Abuja has become the destination of drivers who have no respect for the rules and regulations guiding driving.
These days, it is not uncommon, at every junction, U-turn, roundabout or traffic light to see a “crazy driver” trying to mess up your day or give your car a permanent tattoo through one-way driving, overspeeding, ignoring traffic light signals and other road signs.
The situation is not helped by the embarrassing thoughtlessness and indiscipline of law enforcement, other government and even diplomatic vehicles and drivers. You are likely to see vehicles blasting sirens and convoys driving with impunity. And the traffic wardens, policemen, road safety officials and Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) seem to have gone into extended holidays. When they want to work, it is mainly to hide in an obscure corner, not to help ease traffic or maintain discipline, but to catch offenders. But that shouldn’t be.
A recent study which tried to understand four major road user behaviours – use of seat belts, drink driving, use of mobile phone while driving, and use of child restraints – showed that majority of the road users in Abuja exhibited high non-compliance with about 64 per cent of the respondents admitting to not using seat belts, a high percentage admitted to using mobile phones while driving and 55.8 per cent of the total respondents admitted to not using child restraints while driving.
The trend for annual crash fatalities under review in Abuja from 1990 to 2016 has been characterised by spikes and dips with the highest number of 465 recorded in 2011, while the lowest number of deaths recorded was five, in 2001. This was followed by rapid spikes in 2002 and 2008.
The data shows that crashes were largely caused by speed-related factors (speed violation, loss of control, and dangerous driving), which accounts for 57.8 per cent of all causes of crashes in Nigeria in 2016.
Yet, Abuja was unarguably conceived as Nigeria’s most modern city that operates in an orderly and beautiful national capital. This is supposed to be a model city where traffic regulations are designed and implemented to prevent accidents and keep traffic flowing smoothly. And towards this, FCT boasts of the best traffic engineering, functional traffic lights, road markings and other relevant infrastructure. Yet, Abuja ranks highest on road crashes, caused mainly by aggressive driving, over speeding and drunk driving, part of the risky behaviours that contribute to road traffic crashes.
We at the Daily Trust believe that there is no acceptable excuse for the present state of recklessness on Abuja roads. Therefore, it is time for sanity to be instilled.
Towards this, we call on the law enforcement agents to take the lead in maintaining discipline on the roads and start daily, round-the-clock enforcement of traffic rules. The FCT administration must find an urgent pathway to the maintenance of law and order on Abuja roads.
There must be more effective boots on ground of all key and vulnerable points of traffic violations while urgent steps must be taken to enforce traffic laws through surveillance and deployment of technology.
And to achieve this, law enforcement officers should change their mindset of hiding somewhere on the highways waiting for motorists to commit traffic offences in order to nab them for extortion. They should be visible and without obstructing movements to serve as deterrence.
Moreover, there should be sustained road safety enlightenment campaigns via radio/TV, daily newspapers and social media platforms which would target the very young population of road users. There should also be collaboration with NURTW, RTEAN, taxi driver unions, delivery vans and cyclists.
Federal agencies in charge of road safety should work to enforce road safety laws and offenders should be made to pay heavy fines if and when they violate road safety laws.
Equipment such as breathalysers and speed guns should be provided for road safety agencies to enable them to effectively perform their duties.
In addition, the agencies must ensure that all traffic lights are regularly inspected and in functional state.
Abuja is known as Africa’s conference destination and hosts many annual meetings. The least we could do is to ensure discipline and orderliness on the roads. This modern capital city should lead the way in restoring sanity on its roads. It is not asking for too much.