Two female passengers involved in an accident that occurred along the Iyana-Oworo axis of Lagos State have been hospitalized after sustaining various levels of injuries.
Adebayo Taofiq, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority in a statement released on Tuesday occurred due to over-speeding by the driver transporting the passengers.
The over-speeding scenario coincided with a break failure causing the vehicle to collide into another private vehicle.
He continued, “The incident, which left a woman and a young girl severely injured, underscores the growing concerns about reckless driving and the blatant disregard for traffic safety regulations.
“According to preliminary investigations, the crash was precipitated by a white commercial Toyota Hiace bus, with registration number LSR 701 EF, which was not only overloaded but also travelling at an excessive speed.
“The vehicle reportedly suffered a sudden brake failure and rammed violently into a private car ahead of it. The impact of the collision resulted in extensive damage to the commercial Hiace bus and left two passengers in serious distress.”
Mr Taofiq explained that operatives of the agencies present at the scene of the occurrence rescued the accident victims and handed them to the emergency responders.
“LASTMA officials promptly arrived at the scene to administer emergency assistance. A woman, whose legs were fractured, and a young lady with multiple serious injuries were swiftly evacuated and handed over to the Lagos State Ambulance Service, who transported them to a nearby medical facility for urgent treatment.
“Security reinforcement was promptly provided by officers from the Alonge Police Division, who ensured crowd control and safety of the crash site while LASTMA operatives efficiently cleared the wreckage and evacuated all involved vehicles from the road to restore traffic flow,” he added.
Olalekan Bakare-Oki, the General Manager of LASTMA while reacting to the incident expressed displeasure at the rising cases of over-speeding and abuse of traffic laws and regulations among commercial drivers while emphasizing the need to embrace road safety as a collective responsibility.
“The installation of speed limiters is a deliberate policy to ensure that drivers operate within safe speed thresholds. This tragic incident might have been prevented had such regulations been followed,” Bakare-Oki added.
