By Chiazo Ogbolu
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Mr Olawale Musa, says the speed limit and e-policing cameras installed on the roads across the state are not for revenue generation but for safety purposes.
Musa said this in a radio programme monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
Musa spoke on the topic: ‘Safety Versus Revenue Generation: How Speed Limit and E-policing Cameras is Bringing Change in Traffic Management in Lagos.’
According to Musa, motorists should not speed so that government does not generate money from their speeding.
“It is based on the need to reduce speed and thereby reduce accidents that lead to death that government brought up the issue of enforcing speed limit in the state.
“If people do not obey rules, we must enforce them. Any rule that is not enforced will be a joke. If you cannot do the time, do not do the crime,” he said.
He noted that government anticipated backlash with the enforcement, adding that they would be resolute about this, stating that more would be installed across the state.
On the efficiency of the cameras, Musa noted that the initiative had been tested for three months before government came out with the enforcement.
He said complaints raised were being looked into.
“This thing can be contested, there are procedures so if one feels there was no infraction, feel free to come and contest,” he said.
He said the e-policing cameras would help to monitor what motorists do on the road.
“Naturally, people misbehave when they feel no one is looking and this has to stop.
“There are people at the back-end that watches what happens on the road. If there are security issues, the security apparatuses are reached out to, but for infractions, the vehicle number plate is captured,” he said.
Musa urged motorists, especially towards Alapere, inward Third Mainland Bridge, to take cognisance of the fact that the speed limit at both sides, inward and outward the bridge is 60km/hour.
“Also, there are no bus stops at the expressway, so vehicles should go inside designated bus stops to drop their passengers,” he said.
On complaints about signposts, Musa said people destroy and take away posts that had been mounted.
“There is no year that we do not make 1,500 signs but unfortunately, they are being vandalised. Government has approved the making of 2,500 signs.
“To ensure that the people do not steal them, we now put concrete inside the iron to ensure it’s not stolen.
“Also, government is looking at inscribing the speed limit on the middle of the road so that people do not complain of not seeing the signs,” he said.
He said the cameras cannot be an avenue for extortion as speculated by some people, stressing that fines are electronically generated without human interference.
He said the speed limit was not meant for public vehicle owners only, but also commercial vehicles.
According to him, garages of buses are visited and buses impounded when infractions occur.
“Law is for everybody. We have also fined 300 government vehicles. We are looking at a situation whereby the drivers pay the fines and not government.
“We want the public to understand that whatever government does is for everyone’s safety. So, there is the need to cooperate with government on this,” he said. (NAN)
