MISCALCULATIONS AT 7:15 am

On the 9th of March 2023, a Lagos State government Staff BRT was involved in an accident in the Shogunle area, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. Gloom, screams, and tangible pain filled the air as it occurred around 7:15 am on their way to work. One of the survivors of the accident narrated that when the driver “Oluwaseun Osinbanjo” got close to the intersection with the approaching Train in sight, he refused to stop, obviously believing that he would be fast enough. With an earpiece inserted into both ears, he ignored the pleadings of passengers and the noise around and ventured on. Unfortunately, before he could cross the railway line, midway, the Train rammed into the bus leading to the immediate death of 2 and the eventual death of 5, 8 mild, 42 moderate, and 29 serious injuries. The total number of people present on the bus varies with different media outlets, but it was definitely overpopulated, which is also due to the current scarcity of cash (naira) in the country.

Every life lost is a big pain, with loved ones and even strangers being filled with unaltered pure sadness, just like the National Youth Service Corps member “Oreoluwa Aina” who lost her life that day. Reading the narrations of her father “Femi Aina” exposed genuine painful emotions. As he stated her life’s story, the challenges she faced and conquered, her future plans, and her caring and hardworking nature…all snuffed out in the blink of an eye.

If MAYA can use these experiences to note mistakes made and action steps to take now; both on the governmental and individual level, then it is worth writing about.

• THE DRIVER: there were mistakes made by Mr. Osinbajo, too many. Based on laws, regulations, and common sense a driver should not be using an earpiece while driving, and should not make dangerous calculations unnecessarily. In this case, no one was pursuing him, if he had stopped and waited just for some minutes no one would have died. As a Lagosian I see avoidable accidents taking place daily by overtaking and overspeeding. My mum would always say to me “Gloria, don’t ever drive like that, where you are going to is not moving, better late than never”. Although Mr. Osinbajo claims that the bus had mechanical issues, which won’t even be a surprise because more than half the commercial vehicles especially in Lagos are seriously not road worthy.
• THE RAILROAD: Even a toddler can observe that railroad intersections MUST not be left bare: without mechanical barricades, and adequate safety signs. Rumors are there was one present before but not repaired after it got spoilt. Laws and regulations that directly and indirectly save lives should not keep being taken for granted.

• DRIVERS LIKE PILOTS: With the kinds of drivers I see in Lagos it is known for a fact that it is not just bad roads that are the problem. While it is completely understandable that financial turmoil, family matters, depression, and full-blown burnout are dancing around the minds of most of these drivers, it is still not an excuse. Look at it this way, if it was a Pilot, and it was obvious that he/she was going through all/most of these things, you would show sympathy, but would you want to get on the plane or even allow him/her to pilot? Just because it seems way scarier to be in a plane crash than be in a car accident does not mean the latter should be neglected. If we could start treating drivers like Pilots and treating buses and other commercial vehicles like Planes, we would experience an evident reduction in accidents and deaths. I mean for goodness sake, have you seen the way most bus drivers turn on their vehicles? They hot wire it!!!
• FIRST RESPONDERS: Honestly, we have the capacity and resources to have a simple to advanced emergency response system, even if it means developing it state by state, but it is not so and is still not a priority for most leaders of the nation. However, this accident took place in a very rowdy area, so there were a lot of people to help. Granted, many of those helpers had no idea of First aid and its intricacies, but it was amazing what a lot of them did, putting heads and hands together to save as many lives as possible. They proved that day that though we don’t have an adequate system yet, we can all be emergency responders. The only mishaps were the lack of knowledge on what to do in face of major injuries because from the scene to the ground, to the hospitals, active steps can still be taken no matter how minor, it could still save a life.
• MISSING CASH AND LOADED BUSES: I was on my way back home recently and hopped into a bus, and as we were about to leave the bus stop, a middle-aged man held the upper side of the door while his whole body was on the outside of the bus, as he begged the driver to permit him to stay that way because he had no cash to pay (he had money, but just no cash). Oreoluwa had only 200 Naira with her that day, which is why she had to take the BRT to work, the same goes for a number of them which led to an overpopulated bus. So, in some drastically sad way, the scarcity of cash is leading to deaths. A man recently slumped and died as he tried trekking to his place of work (a Radio station) because he had no cash. Not sure the government will see this, but this directly shows us that creating policies and making new laws is not a one-step/one-view thing, it has a way of sipping into other areas of life. Hence, if it must be made, then the makers must prepare ahead.

NEXT

For our next read, we would dive into the first response measures and first aid knowledge for different kinds of injuries sustained from accidents…in honor of the accident of 9th March 2023.

With heavy hearts and hopeful minds, we mourn with those whom we lost and look ahead to work towards a change...