Despite the presence of two pedestrian bridges at Ojota, a busy area on the Ikorodu expressway, pedestrians still cross the highway. EKO TRUST reports that this has been the trend in recent times in the wake of waning enforcement.
The construction of a new, ultra-modern pedestrian bridge at Ojota by the immediate past administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was in response to observations on the chaos and commotion that was always attending usage of the old pedestrian bridge at the bus stop.
It was always a sight then how scores of pedestrians queued to use the bridge, especially at peak morning and evening periods. Pedestrian usage of the bridge was compelled by the fact that enforcement by men of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) was effective. Many people then dreaded operatives of the Sanitation Corps (LAGESC).
Besides, the government had constructed barricades on the road that made it difficult for people to cross the highway.
Owing to the huge traffic on the only pedestrian bridge, Ambode, on March 2017, commissioned a second pedestrian bridge near the old one.
The former governor said the new pedestrian bridge became imperative in view of the construction of the road median barricades which put residents and pedestrians at no option than to use to the bridge.
But, today, the pedestrian bridges virtually lie fallow as few people now make use of the bridges. Many hitherto users of the bridges have practically abandoned them and now cross the expressway at will and unhindered, especially as the wire barricade has been torn apart.
Our correspondent spent many hours on separate days to observe the compliance level at the ever-busy Ojota bus stop and saw pedestrians crossing the eight-lane highway freely without the slightest bother about using the two pedestrian bridges. People crossed from the service lane, across the expressway itself and to the next service lane.
EKO TRUST watched how some pedestrians were almost hit by speeding vehicles as they dashed across, while motorists had to slow down in order not to hit the pedestrians.
At the Kosofe end of the bridge where there is a filling station, our correspondent saw a parked LAGESC (Black Maria) bus where offenders were usually kept. However, these days, the bus was always virtually empty. The LAGESC officers were seemingly no longer interested in arresting pedestrians dashing across the expressway.
Checks by our correspondent revealed that a woman was hit one morning in July this year near the Ojota bus stop as she was crossing the expressway.
Also sometime in 2016, a woman and her four kids were crossing the highway when one of the kids slipped off her hand, was hit by a vehicle and died immediately.
A report also stated that a bus recently crushed a woman and her child in the Ojota area while they were crossing the expressway.
Our reporter observed that the barricades which prevented people from crossing whether there was enforcement officer on ground or not, have been vandalised. The barricades in the road median have been destroyed up to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway interchange and Ketu stretch of the Ikorodu road.
Motorists said the bad portions of the Ikorodu road, from Total up to the BRT terminal, which usually slowed down vehicles, have been making it easier for pedestrians to cross the expressway.
When our correspondent accosted one of the pedestrians on why he decided to cross the expressway, his response was, “Am I the only person to cross the expressway?”
The Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) officers were seen on duty controlling vehicular traffic, but they appeared not bothered about stopping people from crossing the highway.
One of the LASTMA officials who spoke with our correspondent blamed the development on what he called Nigerians’ penchant for indiscipline.
“I know they used to arrest pedestrians crossing the expressway, but as you can see yourself, many people don’t use the bridges anymore and nobody is enforcing it. Our job is to control vehicular traffic and arrest motorists who flout traffic laws and this is what we are doing,” he said.
The spokesman of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Mr Nosa Okunbor, confirmed the trend, saying the agency was liaising with the relevant agency to enforce compliance.
Our correspondent also sent an enquiry to LAGESC, which the agency had not responded to by the time of filing this report.
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