4th June, 2015
The riot act read to officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, and the Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, by Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Wednesday was quite timely. This is because the two agencies are in the bad books of residents of the state due to the nasty experiences they have had during encounters with officials of these two agencies.
As Ambode rightly noted, LASTMA and KAI were the face of Lagos as whatever they do would affect the image of his government either for good or bad. The highandedness of LASTMA and KAI officials has never endeared them to most residents of Lagos. As for LASTMA, its officials always have running battles with motorists sometimes over flimsy reasons. When they want to arrest motorists over minor traffic offences, they throw civility to the dogs. They manhandle motorists and even jump into a traffic offender’s vehicle in an attempt to arrest the person instead of simply booking the motorist for the offence or following due process while trying to impound the vehicle.
In some cases, rather than assist a motorist push his vehicle off the road when it suddenly breaks down or fails to start in traffic, they prefer to impound the vehicle and put the owner in deeper trauma. There are some stubborn motorists such as the ubiquitous commuter bus drivers also known as danfo drivers that take pleasure in flouting traffic rules and regulations. LASTMA could deal with such drivers’ madness by following due process and not resorting to physical assault while trying to arrest them.
Lagosians also have similar sad tales to tell about the activities of KAI officials whose overzealousness is often taken too far. Their cat and dog tango with street traders often leaves the latter traumatised. It is not as if these two agencies are not doing a great job. As a matter of fact, since LASTMA was set up traffic has improved in Lagos, even though the number vehicles on the roads keeps growing in leaps and bounds. But the officials should throw overboard their negative traits and stick to keeping the traffic moving round the clock in a manner that would create a good image for the government..
We agree with the governor who said he wants a situation where LASTMA would use technology to arrest traffic offenders rather than harassing them. They should take a cue from their counterparts overseas. Over there, law officers are very polite when they want to arrest a traffic offender, not the crude manner our law enforcement officers go about it here.
The state government should provide incentives and equipment for officials of these agencies for them to perform optimally. As for LASTMA, they need rain coats and boots in this rain season for them to be at their duty posts round the clock. A situation where they abandon busy intersections whenever it rains results in traffic chaos that leaves motorists trapped at a spot for hours.
The recent traffic jams in the city is a result of the absence of LASTMA officials at most busy junctions. KAI officials should run three shifts of eight hours each in order to maintain round the clock traffic control in the mega city. The volume of traffic is so high in the city that their regular presence at junctioins and other intersections prevent chaotic traffic situation. Their presence at junctions is also necessitated by the fact that traffic light is highly unreliable due to epileptic electricity supply.