A report in The Guardian says the controversial new traffic bill prescribing 3 years jail term for one-way traffic violators will be signed into law tomorrow by Gov Fashola. Trying to be my brother’s keeper, I would like to share with you some roads in Lagos that can take you directly to jail as from Friday.

Since a new Shopping Mall accommodating Shoprite was launched in Alausa, Ikeja, the road that passes directly behind it is now a one-way street. Policemen have been feeding fat on people who had used that road for ages and are unaware of this new development. When the bill becomes law, heading in the wrong direction on the road will send you to jail for three years.


To new motorists or those visiting Lagos, Somolu is filled with booby-traps that can send you to jail. One-way streets there are numerous. But the ones that quickly come to mind include Oyebajo Street. If you're coming from Morocco Road, going to Ikorodu Road, Oyebajo Street is to the right. With no visible signs, this street is a one-way ticket to jail.


Again, when coming from Ikorodu Road, heading to Igbobi College, there is another one-way traffic street by Fadeyi Bus Stop via Kalejaiye Street. It is the right turning before the National Orthopaedic hospital. LASTMA guys will usually not stay at the entry point to warn you, but in the middle to apprehend you. You will regain your freedom in three years!


Then the popular bridge linking Dopemu to Egbeda is one-way traffic at a designated time of each day. From 5am to 1159am you can cross from Dopemu side to the Egbeda side without any trouble. But if you are delayed and cannot cross to Egbeda side before noon, make a quick U-turn. If you still go ahead and cross to the other side, LASTMA and the police will be waiting for you with a Black Maria. Kiss your freedom goodbye.


On the Yaba/Akoka axis, there are a few booby-traps, apart from the clear one-way traffic roads with concrete medians. The one that leaps to mind now is the major road from University Junction that leads directly to UNILAG Gate. This road is 95 percent two-way traffic. But there is a 5 percent one-way traffic, where you have to detour inside the community and burst out a little further down the road. There is an old, faded ‘No Entry’ sign, to warn motorists, but many first timers miss it. They are joking with three years jail term.


The service lane at Osodi coming from Mile Two is presumably two-way traffic up to a little after NAFDAC. The road forks into two, the right links CAPPA/Mushin, while the left links Osodi Oke. Motorists who want to drop passengers at Osodi, but are too law-abiding to do it on the Expressway, usually enter the service lane, drop their passengers, drive past NAFDAC and at the fork, bear left to link Osodi Oke, onward to Oworonsoki or Maryland, as the case maybe. But any day some LASTMA officials are broke, they usually stay on top of Osodi Oke bridge and monitor those climbing the bridge at the fork. They then pounce on them, accusing them of one-way traffic violation. If you are unlucky to pass that route on one of such days, you will be writing a prison memoir soon, or you offer to pay for the school fees of the children of the ‘hardworking’ LASTMA guys who apprehend you. Which would it be?

Then, from the past few months, motorists coming from Toll Gate by 7 Up, and attempting to link Oregun can no longer drive straight into Ikosi Road by Union Bank. Entry has been barred even though there is no single sign to that effect yet. In lieu of that, there are traffic cones placed there to guide motorists. In all fairness, there are sometimes some honest LASTMA guys at the intersection to guide confused motorists how they can access Ikosi via Lever Brothers. But often times, on duty are the crooked ones who see an opportunity to make money. When a LAWMA truck or other government vehicles exempted from traffic laws blow these cones away, motorists coming afterwards inadvertently drive into Ikosi at the intersection and are slammed by LASTMA and gun-toting policemen. You are in serious trouble.


There are many more, I’m sure. If there are some roads you know that are not included, be your brothers’ keeper and share. Wish you a jail-free motoring.
http://johnaweonline..com/2012/08/roads-that-lead-to-jail-in-lagos.html

Are all these roads not clearly signed as one way roads?

Not all my brother, if you read the report.

Thanks for sharing.

Ikoyi Club Road: it used to be a two-way street until NNPC took over the petrol station at the Club Road/Kingsway Road junction.

The high volume of cars from the petrol station (cheap/always available fuel) and Ikoyi Club forced the government to convert it to a one way street. Lastma officials hide beneath a tree ready to pounce.

The road is only open to traffic from First Avenue. If you attempt to enter from Kingsway Road you will be arrested.

naptu2: Ikoyi Club Road: it used to be a two-way street until NNPC took over the petrol station at the Club Road/Kingsway Road junction.

The high volume of cars from the petrol station (cheap/always available fuel) and Ikoyi Club forced the government to convert it to a one way street. Lastma officials hide beneath a tree ready to pounce.

The road is only open to traffic from First Avenue. If you attempt to enter from Kingsway Road you will be arrested.

Thanks bros. I didnt know this. I recall a gentleman fighting a LASTMA guy at that location last year. It was really a serious one, with clothes torn, etc. The guy insisted he would not be arrested, but I couldnt stop to find out what the infraction was.

if the road is not signed,
they cant do anything.

Kay-Dee:
[size=13pt] Do offenders have the option of an appeal or is it straight-off to jail ? , because sometimes the mistakes could be genuine especially if you're driving in unfamiliar territory, LASG should also put up signs in places where they will be more conspicuous. I know the notorious unilag road axis that suddenly changes from a dual to a one-way road, the sign is badly rusted and there's a good chance you will miss it, the adjoining road from Onike changes in the same way but the sign is a lot clearer. [/size]

No appeal o. Your only saving grace is if the LASTMA guy is corrupt. In that case,you can bribe him.

Kay-Dee:
[size=13pt] Do offenders have the option of an appeal or is it straight-off to jail ? , because sometimes the mistakes could be genuine especially if you're driving in unfamiliar territory, LASG should also put up signs in places where they will be more conspicuous. I know the notorious unilag road axis that suddenly changes from a dual to a one-way road, the sign is badly rusted and there's a good chance you will miss it, the adjoining road from Onike changes in the same way but the sign is a lot clearer. [/size]

Brilliant question. There's a court case that should answer your question and raise more questions about this law. Spent the last few minutes searching for it and found it on good old nairaland. I'll be back to give the state government's response to the decision.

LASTMA can’t impose fine on traffic offenders – Court
On September 22, 2011 · In News

By INNOCENT ANABA
LAGOS- Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has declared that Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, lacks the power to impose fine on traffic offenders.

Delivering judgment in the suit filed by Mr. Jonathan Odutola, Justice Abang declared that sections 9, 11, 12 and 13 of the law establishing LASTMA is unconstitutional and of no effect.

The judge not only awarded N500,000 against LASTMA, but stated that the four sections of its law were contrary to Section 36 of the Constitution, which gives the right of fair- hearing to every Nigerian.

He held that while LASTMA has the power to arrest traffic offenders, it does not have the powers to impose fine on them, adding that instead, it is a court of law that has power to impose fine on anybody who contravenes the law.

The judge submitted that the imposition of fine on any traffic offender by LASTMA amounted to being a judge in its own cause.

He said: “Sections 9, 11, 12, and 13 of the law establishing LASTMA is unconstitutional. It is against the spirit of the Section 36 of the Constitution, which gives right of fair-hearing to every Nigerian. Moreover, that would amount to being a judge in your own cause.”

Odutola had dragged LASTMA to court for unlawfully impounding his car and imposing and slamming an illegal fine on him.

In the suit, he stated that last March, while driving his car on Third Mainland Bridge, it suddenly developed some mechanical problems.

According to him, to ensure that the car did not obstruct free flow of traffic, he immediately called a towing-van which towed the vehicle completely out of the road.

He said he also paid towing-van operator some money for the service rendered.

Odutola stated that he also called his mechanics to come and rescue him and the vehicle, adding that as soon as the mechanics arrived, some policemen patrolling the bridge who apparently wanted him to give them money refused them to work on the car.

When he insisted, Odutola and the mechanics were thoroughly beaten and harassed.

The policemen then called LASTMA officials at Sura, Lagos Island, who immediately came and towed the applicant’s car to their office and consequently slammed him with a fine if he must get his car back

https://www.nairaland.com/765555/lastma-t-impose-fine-traffic

One of the reasons the judge gave for ruling against LASTMA is that their fines go against the principle Nemo judex in causa sua(no-one should be a judge in their own cause). LASTMA usually act as the complainant, prosecutor and judge.

Usually, they arrest you, imppound your car, pronounce you guilty and demand you pay a fine.

Lagos State Government said that they will appeal the judgement. They also said that the fines LASTMA imposes are not final. The individual has the right to appeal and even go to court. It is only if the individual doesn't want to waste time and go through the rigours of a trial that he pays the fine immediately. When you pay the fine you are deemed to have pleaded guilty. Most people don't know this (that they have the right to appeal).

I'll be waiting for the bas.t.ard that will try to arrest me when I accidentally/purposely drive through a poorly/badly sign one-way road whenever I visit. .
Why on earth will LASTMAN officials be hiding at the middle of the bleep.ing road if not for the sole reason of extortion and illegal punishment as authorised by the government.
If Fashola is so concern about Nigerians/Lagosians he should have made it a duty of the LASTMAN officials to redirect vehicles/commuters at the point of blee.ping entry.

Maybe next time I am driving in Lagos, I will start carrying a teargas canister.

Acidosis: I'll be waiting for the bas.t.ard that will try to arrest me when I accidentally/purposely drive through a poorly/badly sign one-way road whenever I visit. .
Why on earth will LASTMAN officials be hiding at the middle of the bleep.ing road if not for the sole reason of extortion and illegal punishment as authorised by the government.
If Fashola is so concern about Nigerians/Lagosians he should have made it a duty of the LASTMAN officials to redirect vehicles/commuters at the point of blee.ping entry.

This is Lagos, where anything goes. Before enacting a law like this, there should be road signs, legible and well placed in locations where people can make genuine mistake. Then, the penalty should not be imprisonment. In a bid to catch the criminals who plunge into one-way willingly, government is ready to sacrifice the lives of thousands of law abiding citizens who may make genuine mistakes. Even if the fine is N5,000, if there is effective implementation, it will check the excesses of those who deliberately and flagrantly plunge into one-way traffic.

blessed are those who have enough money to bribe lastma,for the shall not go to jail

FYI:

Professional drivers in Lagos must be re-certified – Govt


Lagos State Government has directed commuter bus drivers and other professional drivers to obtain re-certification in any of its drivers’ institutes or stop driving in the state.

The government insisted that commuter bus drivers, company drivers, school bus drivers, those who drive private individuals and every driver who earns a living through driving must be recertified, saying that it has begun clampdown on such drivers with a bid to make them comply.

Commissioner for Transportation, Kayode Opeifa, who toured the Lagos State Drivers’ Institute (LASDRI) in Oshodi, said henceforth, anyone caught driving a company vehicle without re-certification would be fined N250,000 while commercial bus drivers without certification would be fined N50,000.

According to Opeifa, the state government has been sensitising commuter bus drivers and others on the need to get certified by LASDRI for the past two years, saying government was now ready to enforce the “no certification, no driving law” in Lagos State.

The commissioner stated that professional drivers must be certified by the institute on yearly basis, saying the drivers would be trained and tested for a day and that if they passed, they would be issued certificate.

Opeifa said because of the urgency of the matter, he had invited the executives of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to the drivers’ institute to be trained and recertified so that they would compel their members to urgently get certified at any of the five drivers’ institutes in the state.

He stated that the government would soon invite proprietors of schools to the institute and let them see the need why they must send their drivers to get certified.

Opeifa also stated that government was interested in the safety of lives on the road, adding that the drivers who were entrusted with such task must be certified as professionals according to the Lagos State Traffic Law 2008.

“For four years, we have been campaigning and slowly enforcing the rule. We are now ready to enforce it seriously.

“We have spoken with transport unions, companies and other stakeholders on the need to comply with the new regulation,” the commissioner said.

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2012/06/professional-drivers-in-lagos-must-be-re-certified-govt/

I think what's required is better public awareness. The government should implement these three measures.

1) Clearly visible signs on each one-way street, indicating the flow of traffic (the govt did a good job with the street sign project and the current house numbering project, so I believe it should be able to do this).

2) A list of all one-way streets should be published on the MOT's website.

3) The MOT should also have a good and well labelled street map on its website.

OP.....Love the way you are sending people to jail straight... . You dey put serious fear in people's mind.

Thank God, Apapa is not really notorious for One-Way streets.

kunlekunle: if the road is not signed,
they cant do anything.

That is the problem; the signs are either very obscure or hidden. Nothing like a neon light flashing or bright red sign.

naptu2: I think what's required is better public awareness. The government should implement these three measures.

1) Clearly visible signs on each one-way street, indicating the flow of traffic (the govt did a good job with the street sign project and the current house numbering project, so I believe it should be able to do this).

2) A list of all one-way streets should be published on the MOT's website.

3) The MOT should also have a good and well labelled street map on its website.

Thanks a million! What is the rocket science in the points you enumerated? Why does it seem that the government only thinks about the financial aspects of the law they make. Always putting the horse before the cart!

At the rate at which LASG wants to send people to jail....then they should better start building more prisons o!!

Cos only Ikoyi prison and Kirikiri Prisons will not even be enough for the amount of people that would be captured at that one way in Shomolu

I also believe some Lastma officers deliberately vandalize some sign boards so that they can extort motorist. And like someone said, you hardly see them at entry points of one way roads, they usually hide and pounce on drivers after you have driven half way on the road. If you are in a new area,

I would advise drivers to find a petrol station, restaurant, bank e.t.c park and ask the attendants or any Lastma officers around on which roads in the area are one way. Most drivers caught on one way road are not usually aware the road only allow traffic flow in one direction.

The benefit of the strict traffic law is to make people dump their cars at home and jump on public transport likes its done in most choked up European cities. Hence less cars on the road means free flow of traffic.

Sounds funny

Then the popular bridge linking Dopemu to Egbeda is one-way traffic at a designated time of each day. From 5am to 1159am you can cross from Dopemu side to the Egbeda side without any trouble. But if you are delayed and cannot cross to Egbeda side before noon, make a quick U-turn. If you still go ahead and cross to the other side, LASTMA and the police will be waiting for you with a Black Maria. Kiss your freedom goodbye

Please this your information is wrong . it is suppose to be the other way round. You cannot cross from Egbeda to Dopemu from noon. From 12pm it is one directional to Egbeda from Dopemu.

Pls i'm a new comer to lagos and i hope Fashola hasn't made any laws guiding the lagos air-space coz i drive around in my helicopter.

3 years? I laugh in Engribgo

In as much as i like the idea of punishing traffic violators, i think the jail term is too long and i feel clear visible signs needs to be on every roads and all those signboards of advertisement needs to be reduced.

Tokotaya:

On the Yaba/Akoka axis, there are a few booby-traps, apart from the clear one-way traffic roads with concrete medians. The one that leaps to mind now is the major road from University Junction that leads directly to UNILAG Gate. This road is 95 percent two-way traffic. But there is a 5 percent one-way traffic, where you have to detour inside the community and burst out a little further down the road. There is an old, faded ‘No Entry’ sign, to warn motorists, but many first timers miss it. They are joking with three years jail term.

I had been a victim of this particular notorious road. The Police/Lastma hides inside a kiosk after the supposed junction, only to pounce on you, as you drive past. I bailed myself with 3k!

I suggest that Lagos state government should first of all, ensure that bold road signs are mounted at the entry of all one-way lanes before signing this bill.
Secondly, the ones that becomes one-way at the middle of the road should have the signs boldy at intervals along the way.
Else, more Lagosians will become ex-convicts in the next few years!

This is a sheer over zealousness by the Lagos state govt.. I subscribe to orderliness and obedience to traffic rules but Fashola should knw that Lagos roads can be very difficult to understand especially for strangers and new chauffeurs. What exactly is fashola's aim? To score cheap pointas being the most innovative or what? This is another avenue to impoverish unsuspecting lagosians and enrich his political touts in guise Of LASTMA.. Fashola has never hidden is feelings that his govt is for the rich only... A gov who had on several occasions said that Lagos is not meant for the poor is another dictator in the making.. Nigerians take note!

Omo lagos don turn NFS most wanted

Time will tell, thank God most of those legislooters making the useless laws will not be there in 5 years. Na all of them go suffer am too. Shio!

Law school to Ynot road is one way ooo... it used to be a dual way road but for the number of companies like twin towers on that road they have converted it to one way and of cuz there is on sign to show its one way. lASTMA peeps and Police would patiently wait for you at the end of the street before they extort your life.... Now na 3 years ooo beware people