Traffic Law: Lagos Impounds 3,619 Vehicles in Three Months

Gboyega Akinsanmi

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, wednesday said the Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) had impounded 3,619 vehicles in the last three months for failing to comply with the Road Traffic Law 2012.

The governor also said it was committed to the United Nations Decade of Action, which he said targeted at reducing road crashes globally by 35 percent by instituting safety system.

He reeled out the statistics at the unveiling of Lagos State Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre at Ojodu, noting that the centre would eradicate vehicles that were not road worthy in the state.

Ambode, who was represented by the state acting Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Olanrewaju Elegushi, said 2017 “falls within the United Nations Decade of Action with respect to road crashes.”

He explained that the Decade of Action “targets reducing road crashes globally by 35 percent through instituting a safety system that aims at minimising loss of life as a result of road crashes.

“To ensure this, the VIS in the first quarter of 2017 has impounded 3,619 rickety vehicles which can potentially cause fatalities on the road. Statistics has shown that between 2013 and 2016, over 416 lives were lost and 2,498 injured due to road crashes on Lagos roads.

 “These road crashes have been traced to human error. It is an established fact that human error is responsible for 90 percent of accidents while mechanical and environmental factors accounts for only 10 percent.”

Being Africa’s fastest growing mega city and taking cue from other developed cities in the world, Ambode said it was imperative to establish the computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre to enhance the inspection of vehicles in line with International best practices.

He said he “is committed to his promise of a safe, secure, reliable and efficient transport system. It is imperative to state that in determining roadworthy vehicles we need to put in place, a faultless and human error-proof system; hence the new development of the computerized system.”

The governor explained that the centre would indicate the state of vehicles in areas, such as emission system, the beam (lighting focus and aim), braking system, suspension system and the body of the car.

“It is important to state that vehicle safety is a key component for road safety. The state government will ensure that those centres are built in the 20 local government and local council development areas making 57 centres across the state and these will be completed in three years.”

Also speaking, the Managing Director, Lagos Computerised Vehicle Inspection Service, LACVIS, Segun Obayendo, said the centre was about safety and to ensure that only roadworthy vehicles were allowed to ply roads in the state.

Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Lagos State, Mr. Hyginus Omese, said by law, both private and commercial vehicles were supposed to come to the centre to test the integrity of their vehicles.