By Mahmud Jika
Commuters plying the ever busy and popular Nyanya/ Mararaba road have continued to groan under the increasing rate of accidents in the area, especially during the evening rush hour.
Just last week two fatal accidents involving several vehicles occurredalong the axis, leading to a standstill of vehicular movement on the expressway, notorious for its perennial traffic gridlock.
The recent account of the unfortunate trend of events happened on Saturday evening, when a tipper loaded with gravel, lost control and crushed four vehicles and a street hawker, purportedly claiming five lives.
According to eyewitness, the tipper driver was at the middle of gridlock when he lost control of the tipper, ramming into some vehicles in his front, including some of the petty traders trading the holdup.
It was gathered that at least five bodies were taking away while many were injured in the process.
Also, a similar incident had occurred at the same axis on Friday, the evening before,after working hours, when another tipper lost control and crushed several vehicles inside the heavy traffic jam, resulting into a standstill, before the affected vehicles were removed from the centre of the road, by the men of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
A cross section of commuters in the area, who spoke with our reporter, said that the situation has been become a daily trend, as no week passes without serious accidents occurring on the road.
They complained that many of long and heavy duty trucks don’t have good brake control, as it appears that the more they move slowly within the reoccurring traffic jam, which most of the time making them vulnerable and accidents therefore becomes inevitable.
According to them, vehicles and the young boys selling goods in cars between on the gridlock usually fall victims of the accidents.
A civil servant, Abdulraham Aliyu, who decried that the daily rate of accidents along the area is rising, describing the situation as terrible.
He called on the federal government to fast track efforts at creating an alternative road, to ease the daily sufferings of inhabitants residing in that axis.
“That government is careless on that, how much will cause the government to construct an alternative road?
“The government is so reluctant on these critical issues that require urgent attention, because our major headache is this crazy holdup, and the ratio of those of us living in this axis far outweighs number of those of living in other satellite towns or the city centre,” he stressed.
Not left out, an FRSC officer, whom pleaded anonymity, confirmed the development in the area, however called on drivers to be vigilant and comply with road traffic regulations.
He noted that the biggest challenge officials are facing every day is the rising profile of accidents on the axis, adding, ‘that’s why the commission has implored an effective nonstop surveillance and operation rescue mission along the ever busy AYA -Nyanya /Mararaba road.
He warned Okada riders (Motor cyclists) to stay off the expressway, as some of them are among the contributing factor of accidents in the area, saying ‘very soon the Corps will launch hard measures on them.’
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