Daily Independent (Lagos)
Victor Ebimomi
12 November 2008
Lagos — The Monday pronouncement by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, cautioning visiting governors and public officials to stop using siren when in the state may not have come at a better time. The governor in making the declaration had noted that among other things, the use of siren had also constituted an unacceptable slur on the traffic management system in the state and pleaded for patience on the roads.
"I have successfully demonstrated that you need patience and not siren to negotiate through traffic in Lagos. I seek the cooperation of all and sundry to demonstrate its benefits, including visiting governors and other public officials," he said.
The Lagos helmsman described blaring of siren as a nuisance and waste of money that ought to be done away with: "Let us get rid of this nuisance on which we spend millions of our hard-earned money to keep the producers in Europe and America in business while we use it to terrorise the tax payers who we serve," he counselled.
To say the governor was speaking the minds of the majority is like stating the obvious. For long, siren has been one instrument that is abused by top-placed personalities in the country. Besides, it has indeed been turned into an object of scare and terror on the roads with alarming attendant casualties. Instances abound where siren-blazing vehicles have scarred some motorists to lose concentration on their steering, ending up having serious or fatal accidents.
"It should be banned outright in all the states of the federation. Of what use is siren for someone who already has security men to protect him or her? If they find themselves in heavy traffic, rather than scare people, the security men ought to help in clearing the traffic," said Benson Akindele, who added that the first accident experience he had was as a result of a siren-blaring vehicle terrifying other road users. According to him, he was trying to get off the road in a hurry but ended up hitting a big concrete by the gutter which did not only damage his vehicle but also caused bodily injury on him.
Ordinarily, siren ought to be used during emergencies, such as when an ambulance is moving a sick person to the hospital or when fire fighters are racing to the scene of inferno, but as if to demonstrate the characteristic impatience that has become the trade mark of many Nigerians, at the slightest traffic jam, any vehicle fittest with siren would just activate it and add more commotion into the already chaotic situation on the road. And there are many vehicles that are so fitted with sirens. From military, para-military, security outfits, private individuals and those referred to as 'money miss road' among others, the siren is an easy acquisition and it appears they are not acquired for any other purpose but for terror.
Mr. Ezekiel Isidahomen, the president of Queens School of Security Management and Studies (QSSMS), Lagos, did not only condemn the indiscriminate use of the instrument, saying 'it is also a kind of environmental nuisance," maintaining that "it shows tendencies of Nigerians to overate themselves". He shared the state government's concern but expressed worry that the pronouncement may not take effect judging by the past record.
According to him, moves had been made in the past to restrict the use of siren to some specific personalities, but the rules were floated as soon as they were made. To the security expert, the appropriate time siren ought to be used is when there is an emergency situation and therefore advised that the government should be firm to ensure that the indiscriminate use is stopped, even as he suggested outright arrest of anyone who flouts the order this time around. "People should learn to respect simple law. Anyone who flouts it should be arrested and prosecuted," he said.
Speaking in the same vein, the Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Reverend Law Edema, wondered where those using the siren derive their power from, concluding that it is an unnecessary display of power and influence.
"Is the use of siren in the constitution," he queried, adding that in civilised societies, it is never used the way it is being used in the country.
"At least I have been to many parts of the world. You will not even know that the president is passing, but here even Aide-de-Camp (ADC) use it," he said, adding that he was in support of Fashola's call over the use of siren on the state roads because apart from the fact that the practice is at variance with what obtains internationally, it also has health implications because of the noise.
Also expressing his view about the government's move, a commercial bus driver, who gave his name simply as Muti, maintained that it is a right step in the right direction because the practice has been so abused. To him, it seems anybody who the use of siren just catches his fancy just goes for it and so it has become commonplace on the road. Besides, he asserted that the drivers of vehicles with siren are more reckless than any other motorists just because they can easily scare other road user. He maintained that they are also source of many of the accidents on the roads.
"We don't even know who has the right to use it or not because it looks like anybody who likes just puts it on his vehicle. And once they put it there, they want every other road user to run out of the road once they are coming; they are very reckless and cause many accidents on the roads," he said.
Lagos is a state that is uniquely different from others because of its peculiarity as a heavily populated urban centre charaterised by incessant traffic jams. How far the state can go in checkmating the use of siren on its roads in this renewed effort remains to be seen in the days ahead.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
