By Festus Ahon
UGHELLI—TRAGEDY yesterday struck in Ughelli, headquarters of Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State as a middle-aged man was crushed to death by a truck.
The incident that occurred at about 8am at Afiesere Junction on the Ughelli/Port-Harcourt road, involved one motorcycle, a bus and the truck.
An eyewitness account told Vanguard that the bus and the truck that were coming from opposite direction sandwiched the motorcycle that was coming from Port-Harcourt end of the road.
According to the eyewitness that pleaded anonymity, one of the tires of the truck suspected to belong to a construction company ran over the head of the motorcycle rider, where he died on the spot.
The truck driver, according to the source, fled after smashing the skull of the cyclist.
Our correspondent, who was at the scene after the incident, reports that the yet to be identified young man wore a pair of blue trousers and a white shirt.
As at the time of filing this report, the bus with registration number HA98BEN, Edo State, was lying one sided at the scene, apparently after being attacked by aggrieved persons.
The chairman, Ughelli North Local Government Area, Mr. Kenneth Ibru, the Ughelli Police led by the Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Chris Sorgbara were at the scene of the incidence to put the situation under control.
As at the time of filing this report, the police have taken the corpse of the young man to the Ughelli General Hospital mortuary.
When contacted, an official of the company said the truck does not belong to the company, but to its sub contractor.
l suggest it is time for nigerians to release road safety and carefulness on the road. there is no point rush to do things and end up not doing it at all. there should be a particular time assigned for each road users. l mean all truck users should be on night tour. okada riders should be properly checked and controlled on the highway driving code. proper checks and balances should be emphasised. coming back home, individuals should be able to travel or go about with his/her wallet information that should in case any event occurs, members of the public or even the police will be able to trace their family members e.g driver’s license with authentic address, next of kin phone number, staff id card or market place of business, complimentary card, etc. lf all this is taken into consideration, we will have the cause to reduce risk and useless driving on highways road.
this is rather unfortunate incident. i think the FRSC and Legislature should look in to okada riders plying our major roads and limit their use to local government roads i.e trunk C roads. Many deaths and several boning injuries have occurred as a result of reckless driving by these okada/motorbike riders. it is better to be late than be dead. although i acknowledge the use of motorbikes has help ease transportation in some un-motorable areas and with traffic, but the disadvantages of the use of okadas outweighs its disadvantages hence strict policies should be put in place to ensure motorbike-safety on our roads.
Wreckless driving, speed, and sometimes driving under influence
of illucinations , bad road and stupidity based on not willing to share
the road cumulative cause road accidents and deaths.
Complete ignorance and stupid personal secrecy has contributed
to so many people dying enroute to somewhere upon which family
members could not possibly account for the where abouts of the
next of kins. Again, the same stupidity accounts for many Nigerians
travelling without a simple documents of idenity resulting on accident
victims not being able to be identified . And where they could be identified
police procedure calls to question whether there is such provisional
funds that would allow the police trace and notified family memmbers
about the death of their beloved ones. Conversely, superstition and atimes
mere ignorance stops family members from making a report of a missing
family member since he or she left their permanent place of residence.
I blieve in my heart that Nigerians have reached the level of carrying
within their wallets and purses a personal document of identification
either in a wallet size, driving license, birth certificate, or pictures to
be able to identify them in case of emergency, even phone numbers.
Cyclists and truck drivers are two of a kind. While truck play king of the road, cyclists play super riders. Nigerians should respect other road users