The governor assented to the Lagos State Road Traffic Bill at a ceremony attended by members of the executive council, top officials of the police force and other traffic management agencies in the state.
Mr Fashola said the new law was a holistic review of the state’s Traffic Law of 2003, adding that it was designed to ensure safety on the roads.
He said that the growth of Lagos into a mega city with large migration into the state had resulted in traffic congestion, saying that the new law was one of government`s strategies to manage the situation.
“This new law is also the state government`s intervention to the alarming statistics of road accidents, especially those caused by reckless driving and activities of commercial motorcyclists.”
“From records at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), 722 accidents were reported, comprising 568 males and 154 females between January and July this year.”
“At our Toll Gate Trauma Centre, 254 accidents, which resulted in 35 deaths, were recorded during the same period. Fifty per cent of the cases were caused by okada riders, 27 per cent of the victims were passengers and 23 per cent pedestrians.”
“These are alarming figures and we cannot afford to allow this to continue, hence our intervention with this law,” he said.
Mr Fashola said that the real objective of the new law was to improve the traffic situation in Lagos and not to arbitrarily send people to jail. He enjoined road users to voluntary comply with the law.
The governor vowed that his government would strictly implement the law, assuring that offenders would be given fair hearing and would be accorded the right to defend themselves during prosecution.
source: channels
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