Following the resolve to bring sanity to the traffic situation on Lagos roads, the Police have launched Operation Restore Sanity On Lagos Roads/Operation Velvet.
The operation team, the police said, was made up of men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
The team is said to have begun operation.
Identifying the main cause of gridlock in the state as lawlessness on the part of drivers, the team will impound vehicles where necessary and prosecute any driver found to have erred at a mobile court.
The Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, CSP Chike Oti, who announced the commencement of the operation in a statement on Sunday said: “The frustrations of commuters plying Lagos roads, substantially caused by recent upsurge in the volume of traffic and lawlessness of some road users with its attendant gridlock, has attracted the attention of the Nigeria Police, Lagos State Police Command and it has resolved to tackle the hydra headed problem with all the seriousness it deserves in order to bring back law and order on the roads through a Joint Service Operation code named ‘Operation Restore Sanity On Lagos Roads/Operation Velvet.’
“The Command identified the underlisted places as worst hit areas requiring robust intervention by security agencies: Akpongbon Bridge, Obalende Bridge, Idumota inward Iddo, Marina, Victoria Island by Bar beach, Ijora-Marine bridge, Oshodi Apapa Expressway, Ijora-Badia to Alakia junction, Ojuelegba under bridge, Tradefair, Alakija, Volks, Iyana-Oba, Alaba Rago, Festac 1st Gate, 2nd Rainbow, Agege Motor Road, Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Allen Avenue, Agidingbi by Omole and Ile Zik to Mangoro.
“Others are Oko Oba Road, Ashade Road, College Road, Elere, Oke Koto, Pedro by Charlie Boy, Ketu Mile 12, Maryland Intersection, Odo Iyana Alaro, BRT Lane inward Ojuelegba, Jibowu, Bariga Traffic towards express, Lekki Admiralty Way, Freedom Way Ikate, Chevron Roundabout, VGC Roundabout, Ilaje Bus Stop, Ajah, Ado Road by Ajah, Abraham Adesanya Roundabout, Customs Point by Agbara Bridge, Agege Road by Dopemu, Ikotun Egbeda Bus Stop and Iyana-Ipaja Roundabout.”
He added: “In a meeting held on Saturday, October 27, 2018, at Powa Secretariat, Oduduwa Street, GRA Ikeja, attended by the State Chairmen of all major transport unions in the State, Federal Road Safety Corps officials and the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Imohimi Edgal, noted the activities of intransigent commercial drivers and motorcyclists as well as motorists driving against traffic and on the BRT lanes, as root causes of the chaotic traffic situation being experienced in the state.
“He, therefore, warns that the police in collaboration with sister agencies like the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Civil Defence Corps of Nigeria Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), will impound the cars of defaulting drivers and arraign them immediately in a Mobile Court that will be attached to the Joint Service Team to enable quick dispensation of justice to erring motorists.”
