18 died, 326 injured on Lagos roads in 4 months

Kunle Awosiyan, Lagos - 01.05.2008

No fewer than 18 people lost their lives while 326 others sustained varying degrees of injuries in about 155 recorded accidents in Lagos State between September and December, 2007.

The state Commissioner for Transportation, Professor Bamidele Badejo, said this at a news conference on the biennial road safety week in Lagos on Wednesday.

He said it was regrettable that in spite of the efforts of the state government to ensure protection of lives and property, many lives of innocent people were being lost to road accidents.

According to him, most of the accidents on Lagos roads were due to improper maintenance of vehicles, lack of knowledge of road signs by motorists, flagrant disobedience of traffic rules and regulations and fraudulent means of obtaining driver’s license.

He stated that most vehicle owners in Lagos got their particulars through fraudulent means, adding that the state government would no longer tolerate them.

He warned that any one caught in possession of forged vehicle particulars would be made to obtain genuine document and then prosecuted.