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Are the Penalties for the Lagos State Traffic Law too Harsh? Residents Complain over Fines & Imprisonment for Traffic Offenders

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A large percentage of Lagos residents, motorists, commercial motorcyclists, popularly called ‘Okada riders’ and other road users have criticized the newly signed Lagos State Traffic Law as having too harsh penalties for traffic offenders.

The traffic law which was signed by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola on Thursday August 2nd, 2012 includes a raft of penalties including psychiatric, breath and urine tests, fines and prison terms for traffic offenders in the state.

Most people believe the law is too stringent with high fines and prison terms placed as punishment for offenders.

However, some people have given the kudos to the state government for the bold step to restore sanity on the roads where many lives have been lost due to recklessness.

The Traffic Law which has 59 offences and penalties for each offence covers all road users including private motorists, commercial drivers, commercial motorcyclists and trailer/heavy vehicle drivers.

Here are a few of the offences and their penalties:

Offence Fine Additional
Disobeying Traffic Control Personnel 1st Offender N20,000, Subsequent Offender   N30,000
Failure to lead to right of way of   pedestrians at a zebra crossing 1st Offender N20,000, Subsequent Offender   N30,000
Smoking while driving 1st Offender N20,000, Subsequent Offender   N30,000
Exceeding prescribed speed limit N100,000 Imprisonment for a term of one year or both fine and imprisonment
Tailgating an emergency vehicle 1st Offender N20,000, Subsequent Offender   N30,000
Assault on a traffic officer (physical) N100,000 Imprisonment for a term of 3 years or both fine and imprisonment
Wrongful overtaking of another vehicle N100,000
Parking on the walkway or kerbs N20,000
Vehicle causing obstruction on the highway if broken down N50,000; cost of towing
Making or receiving phone calls when driving without hands free 1st Offender N20,000, Subsequent Offender   N30,000
Counting money or otherwise engaged in activities while driving 1st Offender N20,000, Subsequent Offender   N30,000
Driving without a strapped seatbelt for both driver and passengers 1st Offender N20,000, Subsequent Offender   N30,000 Strap on seat belt

What do you think about the laws and their penalties? Are they too harsh or would you give kudos to the Lagos state government for the traffic laws?

For the full list of the traffic laws, click here

Source: Punch

Adeola Adeyemo is a graduate of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from University of Lagos. However, her passion is writing and she worked as a reporter with NEXT Newspaper. She believes that anything can be written about; anything can be a story depending on the angle it is seen from and the writer's imagination. When she is not writing news or feature articles, she slips into her fantasies and creates interesting fiction pieces. She blogs at www.deolascope.blogspot.com

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