₦airaland Forum

Dtruthspeaker:
Horse Sheet! The Law Can Not Be Used To Perpetrate A Wrong! The Law Can Do No Wrong is The Highest Law.

You have a Traffic Problem, it is your job to resolve it. In a small state as Lagos, Traffic Problems were created by the same Thieves in governance selling lands without care and putting a stop because road infrastructure was shrinking also.

Now, they are Stealing your property or you prefer the destruction of your property because they are overwhelmed with the problem, they created.

naptu2:
I have been on the receiving end of this thing twice.


Last year I had to assist a relative of mine to buy back her car because her driver stupidly drove against the flow of traffic. In 2005 I followed someone to search for his car after LASTMA towed it away. It still hasn't, wouldn't and can't make me go against the policy. In fact, it was last year when I discovered that people can buy back their vehicles at the auction that I became convinced that crushing the cars is the right way to go.

This is not about supporting any government. I have a right to move around Lagos without some lunatic trying to kill me by driving against the flow of traffic and I will fully support anything that protects that right.

naptu2:
This is my 2019 post on this issue (it incorporates some of my previous posts).

This practice began with the Lagos Traffic Law of 2012.
http://www.nigeria-law.org/Legislation/Laws%20of%20the%20States/Lagos%20State/Lagos%20State%20Road%20Traffic%20Law%202012.pdf

1) Judicial processes: My opposition to the practice stemmed from the fact that the state authorities were auctioning vehicles without going through judicial processes. Vehicles were impounded, the Task Force waited for 2 months and then they auctioned the vehicles. These processes could obviously easily have been abused.

However, after several people went to court and successfully challenged the government’s practice of issuing fines and auctioning vehicles, the government modified the process and now they actually get a court order before auctioning the vehicles.

2) Harshness: Several people (including many Nairalanders) complained that the penalty was way too harsh. “How can you lose your car just because of a traffic offence?” they complained.

The government’s response was that road traffic offences were very serious issues and many people had lost their lives because of them. They said that fines do not work because many people see the fines as no big deal and they even break the law because they know that all they need to do is pay money. They also said that the constant devaluation of the naira ensures that fines are not a good deterrent.

It reminded me of what someone told me about a popular Lagos socialite. This man was very famous/infamous in the early 1990s and he was known for his extravagant displays of wealth. A friend told me that the man was also quite infamous in London too. He said that the man was fond of parking his Rolls Royce in no-parking zones and leaving the fine tucked beneath the windshield wiper.

This famous joke further illustrates the point.

A blonde walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan officer. She says she's going to Europe on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000. The bank officer says the bank will need some kind of security for the loan, so the blonde hands over the keys to a new Rolls Royce. The car is parked on the street in front of the bank; she has the title, and everything checks out. The bank agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan. The bank's president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the blonde for using a $250,000 Rolls as collateral against a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drives the Rolls into the bank's underground garage and parks it there. Two weeks later, the blonde returns and repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41. The loan officer says, "Miss, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely; but we are a little puzzled. We checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is – why would you bother to borrow $5,000?" The blond replies....."Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return?"

It was this same argument that played out in the early 2000s when the government decided that people that violated traffic laws must undergo psychiatric examination at their own expense.

3) Awareness: A lot of people complained that the government is only interested in making a profit from this practice. They say that government often changes the status of roads arbitrarily. For example, Ikoyi Club Road was once a two-way street, but it suddenly became a one-way street and the public was not informed of this change and many people ended up falling into LASTMA’s traps. People also complained that there were no signs to indicate that streets were one-way streets and to indicate the direction that cars should be travelling. They said that, even when there are signs, they are usually put in obscure positions where motorists would not easily see them (for example, a sign was eventually erected on Ikoyi Club Road, but it was erected right behind the branches of a tree, so motorists could not easily see it).

In response to these complaints, the Fashola administration published a list of one-way streets and also promised to erect signs to indicate which streets were one-way streets. This was done initially, but it was not sustained. A Nairalander created a thread so that people could list all the one-way streets in Lagos, as a means of warning people. https://www.nairaland.com/1019021/list-one-way-roads-lagos

Therefore, the justified criticism is that people could lose their vehicles simply because they went the wrong way down a street that they genuinely did not know was a one-way street.

4) Privilege: Some people complained about the people that they believed would be exempt from punishment. They said that bullion vans, danfo buses, personnel of the armed forces and the police and motorcades of government officials would not be punished for driving against the flow of traffic and that these people are the biggest offenders.

However, one of the first vehicles to be apprehended under the law was a bullion van.
Lagos To Auction Seized Bullion Van, Truck
https://www.nairaland.com/1054108/lagos-auction-seized-bullion-van

Danfo buses were also not immune.

Lagos Taskforce Police Impounds 20 Danfo Buses in June
https://allafrica.com/stories/201506291363.html


And Governor Fashola famously arrested military officials that were driving on the BRT lane or driving against the flow of traffic.

The major bone of contention was the motorcades of other state governors and Federal Government officials. The Lagos State Traffic Law 2012 regulates the use of sirens and flashing lights in Lagos and one of the reasons for the inclusion of that section is this horrifying incident between the motorcade of the Imo State governor and a woman and her two little kids on Kingsway Road in Lagos.
https://www.nairaland.com/113341/woman-beaten-up-convoy-front
https://www.nairaland.com/114714/power-drunk-governor-irresponsible-mother
https://www.nairaland.com/136829/indecent-assault-mrs-udoudo-imo

Governor Fashola issued a warning to visiting government officials that they must obey the traffic law, but, of course, this was never enforced.

naptu2:
LASTMA's General Manager caught these ones driving against traffic on Third Mainland Bridge last week.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sEKOuFGMrc

naptu2:
Anyone caught driving against the flow of traffic on Third Mainland Bridge should have his car crushed and he should be forced to pay the cost of crushing it.

naptu2:
In "saner climes" like Australia, not only is the car impounded, but it is crushed.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/police-resume-car-crushing-in-a-bid-to-deter-dangerous-drivers-and-repeat-offenders/news-story/a11806dccd86ec5198bbfe14d7b8db09

This also happens in the United States.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna19339955


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T2YamA2h28


Auctioning the cars gives crazy people the chance to buy back their cars.

GidiParrot:
The Lagos State Government on Friday inaugurated the Special Offences (Mobile) Court to summarily deal with growing cases of traffic and environmental abuses in the state with the view to bring sanity and civility in the conduct of residents.

The Mobile Court, which will be manned by highly-qualified Magistrates of the State Judiciary, will summarily try cases involving traffic and environmental offenders.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony held at the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem said the launch of the Mobile Court, was one of the ways through which the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode aims to broaden the pathway that guaranty citizens’ access to justice and at the same time ensure the preservation of civility in the society.

He said the development was an institutional reaction to identified societal challenges, and that henceforth traffic offenders such as motorcyclists who drive against traffic and refused to obey traffic signs like zebra crossing and traffic light indication, would no longer find it easy to get away with commission of such crimes in the state.


He also said commercial bus drivers popularly known as Danfo Drivers on motion with their doors open thereby endangering lives of those of their passengers and other road users, would equally be prosecuted before the Mobile Court, while anyone crossing the highway where pedestrian bridges are provided, would equally face trial.

Kazeem, who disclosed that henceforth driving on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lanes of non-designated vehicles by anyone including military personnel, would attract prosecution before the Mobile Court, also warned people to desist from parking at undesignated places and indulging in noise pollution and street trading among others, saying such offences would be handled by the court.

He added: “These set of offences appear to be so simple but the reduction of its commission I believe is a major yardstick in determining how much we have progressed as a civilized society.
“It may seems simple, but its significance and expected impact to the society is a lot more profound,” Kazeem said.

Speaking on the importance of the event, the Attorney General said: “This event is even more momentous because It is a symbolic indication of some of the most important policies of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration on law and order which rest on the premise that no society will thrive in an atmosphere of lawlessness and disorder.


“This administration recognize that as Africa’s fastest growing mega city, law and order are critical pillars for sustaining democratic life. The state government has dedicated an enormous amount of manpower and financial resources in seeking better living standard by provision of roads, drainages and transportation system to mention but a few and it has enacted traffic and environmental laws to ensure the state remains environmentally friendly all the time.

“Yet some have chosen or deliberately refused to obey these laws. This is not entirely surprising as the history of mankind as shown that obedience to societal laws has never been entirely voluntary. Therefore, prompt and fair adjudication as well as the certainty of enforcement and penalties constitute the necessary inducement for respect and obedience of laws. For most people, where justice is delayed or denied, the victim is bound to feel some frustration, outrage or even further disrespect for law and order and if the same trend is allowed to take whole the very basis of an orderly society wears out gradually and steadily,” he said.

On her part, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade said with the launch of the Mobile Court, the era of recklessness and lawlessness on Lagos roads were gone for good, as no government would fold its arms and watch the violation of traffic and environmental laws.

Justice Atilade, who lamented the death of a 25-year-old British Nigerian graduate, Doyin Serah Fagbenro who was killed by a reckless Danfo Driver about three weeks ago in Lekki-Ajah area of Lagos, said the story of the victim was just one of the many deaths occurring as a result of reckless driving and indiscipline.

“This must not be allowed to continue. Let it be known to all that the era of recklessness and impunity on our public roads and highways in Lagos State is gone. Those who chose to make life difficult for other people especially on our roads should have a rethink as they will henceforth be held accountable for their deeds,” Justice Atilade warned.

The special Offences court was established in 1994 to try essentially environmental Offences and it has been vested with powers to sit in any convenient place close to the scene of commission of any offence triable by it.
Though summary in nature, the proceedings before the Mobile Court will be operated in according with rules of natural justice and fair hearing.

There will be lawyers from the office of the Public Defender for any defendant who so desires to be defended, while defendants can also appoint any lawyer of their choice to defend them.

http://www.lasgidionline.com.ng/2016/02/lagos-state-government-launches-mobile.html

superior1:
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.

jrusky:
Something not clear here. "Captured in CCTV in compliant home" So every house now has CCTV?

OP check your information well hope it's no a mixed up?

I can't say anything until the truth comes out.

LAGOS POLICE ARREST, INVESTIGATE POPULAR NOLLYWOOD ACTOR FOR DEFILEMENT

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested one Olarenwaju James 'm' 48, aka Baba Ijesha, popular Nollywood actor for defiling a minor

The case of defilement was reported on 19th April, 2021 by one Princess Adekola Adekanya 'f' at Sabo Police Station and transferred to the Gender Unit of the State CID, Panti, Yaba Lagos for proper investigation

Based on preliminary findings, the suspect started sexually assaulting the victim, 14 years, since she was 7 year old.

The suspect confessed to the crime and was also captured by a CCTV camera in the house of the complainant.

The Commissioner of Police,Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has ordered for proper investigation as he promised to do justice in the matter.

CSP OLUMUYIWA ADEJOBI
POLICE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
LAGOS STATE COMMAND
IKEJA-LAGOS
22ND APRIL, 2021