₦airaland Forum

Instead of them to give it out to those that need it.

orisa37:
For mere Traffic offense you confiscate the Property for auction? That's draconian. Take them to Court to pay fines and carry their property.

They should seize their houses too. Nigerians and stupid laws. Why not even kill them.

vabok:
What about those Danfo's causing traffic by stopping at illegal points at Ajah and Jakande

Dose ones dey pay bribe na

It will never be an open auction. Don't be supprised if only yorubas are allowed to buy.

Jamesilvar:
Abeg, when is the auction?

Too hash for petty civil offences, when big criminals walk Scot free.

After people will be committing suicide up and down. This government sef

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orisa37:
For mere Traffic offense you confiscate the Property for auction? That's draconian. Take them to Court to pay fines and carry their property.

.

Did u read d write up at all

Creating draconian laws without fixing terrible roads let’s not talk of basic traffic amenities. Crazy government

Ok, I created that post without providing the background of the issue. I'll correct that in my next post.

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helinues:
Thats too harsh

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deepwater:
i am completely bewildered that the LSG could ever think of this!

traffic offense is a money generating avenue through fines all over the world.

seizing your vehicle to display on auction over running a red light is robbery and non sense

Lagos citizens should try an opposition party. It shouldn't be APC APC and APC. It happened in the US with good results to show for it.

I

deepwater:
i am completely bewildered that the LSG could ever think of this!

traffic offense is a money generating avenue through fines all over the world.

seizing your vehicle to display on auction over running a red light is robbery and non sense

Them go sue their ass. I don't know who thinks for Lagos State government.

How will someone forfeit his CAR to government only for driving against traffic ?

I don't understand some of these silly overkills by government.

meccuno:
They should seize their houses too. Nigerians and stupid laws. Why not even kill them.

Yes, they should be killed by firing squad for driving against traffic.

I won't say Nigeria has useless leaders.

Hmmmm you people should even have fear of God o just because one flouted the traffic rules such must such treatment be dished out to them it's really unfair and daylight robbery. Selling one's car another man's sweat because he did wrong even after serving his punishment? awon ole.

This can not be said to be a law.....
It's a pure inhuman approach to maintain social order/sanity...
What happens to them paying fines

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.

gaetano:
Nah, this is dictatorship. Wait till someone related to you gets affected.

Any one who drives facing traffic is most likely mad, except for rare occasions of medical emergencies(life and death situation).

chinchum:
Any one who drives facing traffic is most likely mad, except for rare occasions of medical emergencies(life and death situation).

That doesn't mean their cars should be auctioned

gaetano:
That doesn't mean their cars should be auctioned

In a major city like Lagos. Stiffer penalties are needed. Any time some one starts driving facing a traffic, such driver is on a mission to kill or be killed. A driver caught doing that should not have a driving license anymore. In a country like Nigeria where anyone can access driving license. Auctioning the seized car will hit hard.

chinchum:
In a major city like Lagos. Stiffer penalties are needed. Any time some one starts driving facing a traffic, such driver is on a mission to kill or be killed. A driver caught doing that should not have a driving license anymore. In a country like Nigeria where anyone can access driving license. Auctioning the seized car will hit hard.

No. Things are hard in the country. Make the penalty 500k. If they pay it once, it will hit them hard.

gaetano:
No. Things are hard in the country. Make the penalty 500k. If they pay it once, it will hit them hard.

Well, anyone that wants to drive facing traffic in Lagos must have heard about this "draconian" law. They now need to be really mad to break it. Case solved.

Drkeo:
Nigerians need harsh hands.. It's the only way they'd learn

If you are a visitor driving within Lagos Island or around Somolu, almost impossible for you not to violate the One Way traffic offence.

Lots of One Way in most areas known only to residents or drivers who have good knowledge of such area. LASTMA /Police collabo and Local government officials lay siege to such street which serves as their daily ATM.

Some people whose car about to be auction are principled men who choose not to settle, now they are loosing their hard earned property to a warped system. With the right contact, you can get your car out in minutes without paying a dime.

Them impound Opay bike too this is serious.