LASTMA decries traffic violation by military personnel

The General Manager, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Mr. Bashir Braimah, yesterday decried frequent flouting of traffic laws by military personnel, urging them to desist from plying the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor.
He was reacting to an incident on Monday when some military men assaulted a LASTMA official, Mr. Peter Owolabi, for taking photographs of their Honda Accord car with registration number CP 839 YAB on the BRT corridor at Obanikoro bus stop.
Braimah said: “The officers were stopped during a routine exercise to prohibit the illegal use of the BRT bus corridor by other motorists. The violators were presented a fine ticket in accordance with the new approach of the agency of booking offenders on the spot and allowing them to continue with their journey without their vehicle being impounded.
“However, unlike their civilian counterparts, the military officers refused to collect the tickets and rather opted to obstruct movement of other vehicles from exiting the corridor and in the process caused pandemonium and created ugly scenes”.
Braimah said they physically attacked passersby who tried to record the incident on video and in the process, manhandled the LASTMA cameraman and damaged his camera. He noted that the 15 vehicles found plying the BRT corridors during the exercise were either driven by military personnel or were with military insignia.