…As cycling communities sensitize bus drivers in Lagos

By Juliet Umeh

Drivers in Lagos, especially the popular danfo drivers have been urged to accommodate other road users to curtail the number of avoidable accidents.

The call came when a cyclying club, Cycology with other cyclist communities took to the streets of Yaba, Lagos to sensitse drivers in a campaign tagged: ‘Share the Road, STR.

The campaign with the theme: ‘Road Empathy: Walk, Ride, Drive, and Thrive Together’ was also used by the communities to commemorate the 2024 World Bicycle Day.

Addressing the press, Captain of Cycology, Temitope George, said that every road user including the cyclists, pedestrians and drivers have equal rights to the roads.

She stated: “The ‘Share the Road’ campaign aims to promote responsible road use, safety, and courtesy among all road users.

“It’s important that we all show empathy on the road while sharing the road respectfully and equitably.”

Speaking on their experiences, George said: “Our usual experience on the road is that people feel, particularly bus drivers, that we are not meant to be on the road. They keep asking what we are doing on the road.

“So, what we have done is to invite all the cycling communities in Lagos. Even though it’s our initiative, it’s actually something of concern to all cyclists, road users even with the high statistics on road traffic accidents.

“And in order to reduce those numbers, we know that sensitization is important. We spoke to drivers and gave them flyers and face caps. Last year, we were at Oworo bus park in Lagos but today, we are in Yaba bus terminal,” George explained.

Commenting on the government’s support, she said: “I would say that the government is doing a good job. In a state like Lagos, that is a mega city, there’s multimodal transportation. It’s important that we actually start enforcing a non-motorized transport policy, which says that we will ride, cycle, ride, walk and drive together. We know that there’s a lot of infrastructure that still needs to be created for that but, let’s start with changing people’s mindsets.”

Also speaking, Assistant Chief Mechanical Engineer with the Ministry of Transportation in Lagos, Engr Jayeola, said that the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s agenda is very clear concerning traffic management and transportation in the state.

He said: “In line with that, we launched a transportation policy which encompasses different modes of transportation.

“The government is also trying to reduce carbon emission in the state and by doing so, we want to encourage cycling as a means of transportation.”

Meanwhile, a senior advocate of Nigeria who was one of the participants in the exercise, Mr. Seyilayo Ojo, expressed his experience saying: “I always enjoy it when I have an opportunity to speak about the need for us to show love to one another and that’s what ‘Share the Road Campaign is about.

“We all must learn to understand that we must be our brother’s keeper. The person on the road has every right to use the road the same way you have the right to use the road.

“But over and above all, we are in a society where we really need to live a healthy lifestyle. And what we do as cyclists is to promote a healthy lifestyle through cycling,” Ojo added