ZEBRA CROSSING: ANOTHER TELLTALE OF UTTER DISREGARD OF TRAFFIC CODES IN NIGERIA
By Oyelami Abayomi
Pedestrians using the Zebra crossing in Lagos
One of the indicators of a society set on the path of socioeconomic growth and development to become a megacity is the adherence to simple instructions such as traffic laws and codes. This seems not to be the case even in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre and West Africa’s economic hub. Motorists defy traffic codes such as use of seat belts, traffic lights and zebra crossing brazenly in all the parts of the megacity.
That’s the shame of the country! How many times have you boarded a commercial bus and the driver will just quickly ask you to strap a loose, unkempt ‘rope’ around your body at the sight of a traffic enforcement officer? How did you feel when the traffic officers are the ones breaking the laws they were paid to enforce? How many times have you stood at the zebra crossing that dots the landscape of Lagos, yet the motorists do not seem to care if anybody is on the roadside? How does a country teach her children to obey laws when it cannot even adhere to simple safety code as zebra crossing? Zebra crossings are found on Bank Anthony Maryland,
Zebra crossing is a pedestrian crossing marked by black and white stripes on road surfaces, especially major roads, akin to the skin of a zebra. Its essence is to gives the right of way to pedestrians and aids their crossing along roads where it is marked. The disregard of Zebra crossings by motorists in Lagos is incredible. From Maryland roundabout to Opebi road to Allen Avenue to Capitol road to Ogba road to old Ipaja road, you will have to beg drivers in order to cross the road or else you will wait a long while to cross. This is because nobody cares for the zebra crossing right in front of you, they just keep moving.
Interestingly, many of these locations are replete with institutions that are regularly visited by people – hospitals, schools, government offices, etc. The Zebra crossing in Maryland is directly opposite the Lagos SUBEB office, churches and offices, the one in old Ipaja road is just near the Lagos state NYSC camp and a heavily populated government school, the one on Ogba road, Agege should offer easy commute for students of four public secondary schools who only need to trek about 5 – 10 minutes to their school, Allen Avenue is noted for the influx of workers because of the several offices at the entire stretch, yet school pupils, students and workers cannot enjoy this pedestrian facility.
On Capitol Road, a major road in Agege is situated a Zebra crossing that is supposed to aid the transportation of pedestrians. But motorists disobey the traffic code with reckless abandon. This malady is not restricted to yellow buses, even cars do not take notice of this all-important road safety sign. A concerned parent commented: ‘the Capitol road is a very busy road and many schools are located around this axis, we hope that motorists will maintain a level of sanity especially when our children are going to schools in the morning and coming back in the afternoon.’
A cab driver who does his business around Opebi stated: ‘I live in Agege but I do my business in Ikeja and when I see people on the line I stop for them, but if I don’t see anybody I move on. I think our drivers need to be educated on the traffic codes because some don’t even know you are not supposed to overtake on some marked portions of the road, and don’t think it is only commercial buses; the way some car owners drive on high speed is reckless too.
A resident who simply wanted to be identified as Alfa stated: ‘You can see for yourself how hard it is for these children to cross the Ogba road. I know the meaning of the lines and I know it is supposed to help pedestrians, I just hope our motorists will learn to obey.’
an empty zebra crossing road
On old Ipaja road, the road that connects Agege to Iyana-Ipaja, not far from the NYSC camp and Federal Government Girls’ College is yet another zebra crossing that drivers do not take notice of. Perhaps, whenever the youth corpers come out en masse they grant them the right of way. An artisan who plies the road on a daily basis said: ‘I pass this Iyana-Ipaja road regularly but I have not seen when drivers wait on that line except some people stop them. Here in Lagos, you will be the one to find your way, it is not London.’
Many students were seen running the race for dear life when crossing the Ogba road while complaining: ‘the drivers here don’t understand zebra crossing, we just have to wait till traffic is low for our safety. We don’t even bother waiting on the zebra crossing anymore.’
Another resident said: ‘I have never seen it observed in Agege but I have personally experienced it at local airport and at the toll gate on the way to Ajah. Our drivers need to be enlightened.’
How much safety does a city offer its residents on the road? Must she wait for a disaster to act?
