Okada accidents have killed over 107 persons in the last two years – LASG

Following the recent ban of Commercial  Motorcyclists, popularly known as Okada by the Lagos State from plying major roads , the government has revealed that no fewer than 619 persons had in the last two years lost their lives while scores of others sustained various degrees of  injures in commercial motorcycle accidents across the state.
The government disclosed that the victims’ figure was made available by the state Traffic Management Authority.
A statement by the Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello, added that  records from the Planning and Research Department of LASTMA showed that out of the number, 107 people died while 512 others were seriously injured as a result of the accidents.
It added that the victims  in the two years include 71 males  and 36 females.
The statement read in part, “Details of the accidents between January 2011 and October 2012 further revealed that a total of 442 commercial motorcycles, popularly called okada, were involved in accidents across the state during the period out of which 271 occurred in 2011 while 171 occurred in 2012.
“Also according to the records, in 2011 alone, 47 were killed and 98 others sustained serious injuries while from January 2012 to date 63 people have been killed while 59 others sustained serious injuries.”
According to the government,  police records showed that a total of 513 fatal accidents recorded in the state in the last two years were caused by motorcyclists.
The records shows that out of this number 305 happened between January and December 2011 while 208 of the fatal accidents happened between January and June 2012.
“The record also revealed that of the 30 armed robbery incidents recorded in the state between the months of July and September this year, 22 of them involved the use of commercial motorcycles. Details, according to the record, show that of eight robberies that occurred in July, seven involved the use of okada while okada was also used in 10 out of 14 robberies in September and in five out of eight robberies in August,” the statement said.
It said that the state government prompted the Lagos Road Traffic Law to address some of the security challenges by banning okoda from plying certain areas in the acclaimed Mega City.
The statement said that, “government only restricted okada operations to some areas to regulate traffic and  reduce avoidable accidents and loss of life on roads.”

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