MOTORCYCLES: DEATH TRAPS

Very recently,Lagos roads have become nightmares , may be due to the heavy rains,the heavy population and all. It has become hellish a state especially for businesses,employers,employees and all working class. Motorcyclists(popularly called Okada riders in local parlance)n Lagos are mostly boys and young men, a large number mostly emigrating into Lagos from Northern Nigeria,who are supposed to be in high school or on the farm and who learn the skill of riding within four to five hours and fiam!,they are on the roads negotiating and picking passengers(in Lagos,there must always be passengers so I once heard them say when I was in the North for a short while) and before you know it,they are migrants in Lagos with trucks loading them Into Lagos and possibly sometimes the motorcycles aimed  for the business.
Recently,the Okada business just got advanced  and hyped with the likes of Go Kada,O pay etc just like their car counterparts UBER and TAXIFY with the use of technological apps. As a result,some Lagosians believed in the sanity of these rides.Sometimes last year,i saw some Chinese men at an Okada park,trying to convince some riders to join their company as advanced okada riders. Their conversations dwelled on  kitting them up with helmet
and getting them the necessary papers to avoid disturbances from Lagos touts collecting Government taxes. Now we have many of them on our roads which has even worsen the situation because I think they are now the number one killer on highways especially in Lagos as people who will naturally not take okada on high ways seem to have reposed so much confidence with the hypes and use of apps.

First,there are fundamentals issues about the roads.When the plans were drafted,there was no provision of lanes for  bicycles,tricycles or motorcycles.
Second is the sanity of those riding these cycles and other road users.
Third is the sensitivity of transport regulations,regulators and governance

Okada death,one too many.
Okada death in Lagos now is one too many. Gone are the days when victims of okada accident end in Orthopaedics,they mostly die instantly as it seems.

• Just mid year during Ramadan was a young female chartered accountant,Latifa Adewura Bello by name. Her picture  went viral on social media hat the family was in search of her . She was said to be returning from work and had taken a motorcycle to ease her getting home earlier due to the heavy traffic. The rider was said to have used a road that was condemned in which several vehicles have been warned against the use but with the young lady behind him,there was an accident and the lady slipped immediately into a carnal through a manhole,around Abule Odu,Gowon estate,Ipaja area of Lagos.She was not found until about a week after at the end of the carnal after so much search from LASEMA,LAMATA.etc.

Around August also was an in-law to a family friend who was said to have left his car at home and was on his way to work using a  motorcycle as BRT (bus Rapid Transit) hit him behind and the rest is history.

On Nov 19, World Men's day, a former neighbour of mine was returning from his office between Ikeja and Meiran on Abeokuta express way,he was hit by a truck and the young man whose wife is pregnant of their fourth child did not survive this.

These young people have their *lifes*cut short in their primes,they were sent to endless eternity unexpectedly because of some form of lawlessness in the land.
There should be some form of repositioning of the transport system especially in a place like Lagos.There should be enough private-public partnerships such that we will have less number of private cars on the roads and maybe alternative routes for bigger vehicles,so that we avoid situations whereby there are 150 vehicles in traffic on the road with just 153 persons in them. We pray and hope drastic steps are taken as fast as possible while we all are still alive.

Okada death,one too many.