I ‘grew up’ with the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way or is it the other way round? I was young, enjoying my first car around the time it was declared open to traffic in the 70s. Living in Lagos with parents in Ilesha meant I had to use the road quite often. Beyond that familial obligation however, was the pleasure of traveling on very smooth asphalt. I and my friends seized any opportunity to be on the road including going to Ibadan for parties and returning in the small hours of the morning or going to Sagamu just to buy ‘suya’. It was even more fun when we raced ourselves. The target was to make the distance between the two ends in under an hour. That meant an average of 120km per hour. That meant doing 150km per hour or more on occasions to make up for when we were slowed down by heavier trucks. I have had friends who regularly made the distance in 45minutes. Looking back now, it was crazy. But the adrenalin, the light headedness, gave us so much high that all fears were banished. There was a time my heart skipped a bit though. Perhaps the only time. I was in a friend’s car coming from Ado-Ekiti and had reached the Ibadan Express Way when he showed me the speedometer. It was 170km per hour. We were in a BMW 7 Series – one of those heavy cars – and I didn’t really feel the speed until he showed me – that was how good the road was. We had left Ado- Ekiti pretty late and he had a midnight plane to catch. It explained the speed but hardly justified it. Perhaps it was inevitable that accidents would occasionally happen with such dare devilry. They did. Mine came a couple of years later. I was traveling at 140km per hour when I noticed an unusual noise rising above the music in the car. Unsettled, I slowed down a bit. Then the car swerved slightly on its own. That was when I panicked and slammed on the brakes. It was a mistake because I had apparently, just lost a tyre. The car somersaulted a couple of times and ended up on its back off the road. That no other car hit me as I zigzagged while fighting for control was in itself, a miracle. The car of course, had to be towed. It was my Anthony Joshua moment. I learnt my lesson and never went above 120km per hour since. I hope the boxing legend has learnt his.

Speed kills. And there is really no advantage in speeding apart from the rush and the exhilaration. On the other hand, there is a lot to lose especially in a country where most people lack road discipline. Speaking of discipline and basic traffic rules, there was a lot of effort to inculcate discipline and decorum in those who had to use the Express Way back in the day. Trucks and commercial vehicles were encouraged to stay on a slower lane while safe and effective ways to overtake were constantly shown on TV. Parking on the Expressway was a no-no as defaulting cars would be towed in minutes. Then the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) was inaugurated to control over speeding. It was strict, but fair and seemingly incorruptible. All of these helped to bring sanity to the road in the 70s and 80s. The FRSC earned so much respect at the time that I had no hesitation in accepting when I was invited to be a Marshall in the 90s. We had a crash course and one of the lessons I remember was that motorists were to be stopped only if there was dangerous driving. Or if we noticed something was remiss. Now, FRSC officials lurk at street corners on Sundays to stop and scrutinize vehicle papers of those coming from church!

If there is anything to learn from the Anthony Joshua experience, it is that there are very few disincentives to speeding on our roads. People, especially youths anywhere in the world, will speed if they can get away with it. Just recently, the Works Minister, David Umahi had to warn against over speeding and dangerous driving on the yet to be officially opened coastal road. The random indiscipline on our various Expressways is disturbing. Drivers disobey road signs and run traffic lights at will. Worse, many face oncoming vehicles at the slightest urge. Stationary vehicles now abound without any repercussion. These are disasters waiting to happen – and one did in the case of Anthony Joshua. The real disaster though, is that many drivers genuinely don’t know traffic rules. I have met so called professional drivers, who can’t interpret the different yellow signs on the road. Many countries have practical and theoretical tests before a driver’s license is issued. We should borrow a leaf from them. It is not just enough to be able to move a car. Safety and traffic management signs and rules must be learnt. These rules are getting more complicated as countries modernize and population increases. Prospective drivers should learn them while existing drivers should periodically update their knowledge. There should also be clear, unambiguous traffic signs on our roads and committed officers to enforce them.

Our problem is not the dearth of traffic officers on the road. In fact, I would say we have too many of them. The problem is that they are there for the wrong reasons. My gut feeling is that many law enforcement officers would want to be on the road. But not necessarily to control traffic, prevent dangerous driving or ease congestion. Many prefer ‘stop and search’ operations. I am not talking about Police Officers alone. Customs, VIO, Military, even LASTMA Officers park their vehicles in strategic places principally to ‘inspect’ vehicles. Many of these operations don’t last beyond two hours before they melt away. Many ‘identified defaulters’ don’t make it to ‘the station’, wherever station is. Makes one wonder how many of these operations are legit and why the different official bodies choose to look the other way.

Meanwhile, wanton disobedience of traffic rules continues unabated – mini bus drivers and motorcycle riders don’t even believe there are rules. How many of the petrol tanker drivers can pass a genuine driving test? How many understand what is expected of them on the road beyond ferrying their goods from points A to B? How many understand traffic decorum? One lesson from the Anthony Joshua tragedy, and frequent petrol tanker accidents, is that highway management should up its game. Officers should be more concerned with making traveling safe and pleasurable than with what they can make off motorists.

•Muyiwa Adetiba is a veteran journalist and publisher. He can be reached via titbits2012@yahoo.com

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