LUNACY OF LAGOS: let's talk traffic

   Ever heard the saying: "if one could survive in Lagos, one could survive anywhere"? Some days, I feel this was coined with Lagos traffic in mind. Truth be told, Lagos is a real busy place with millions of people and, traffic is one of the craziest things one would encounter in Lagos. Unlike some other places that could have the traffic concentrated in certain areas, in my mind's eye, there's traffic in every area of Lagos (mostly the major routes) from the mainland to the island and the "other places". That is not to say the city is ridden with traffic all day long however, one could spend precious productive hours in the legendary Lagos traffic. The traffic situation ranges from standstills to slow but seemingly steady movement stemming from varying things like bad roads, absence of traffic control at notable points (and the impatience of commuters), not that many alternate routes, diversions due to road repairs and ultimately, RUSH HOUR.

On some occasions though, one would never get to understand the cause of the traffic even when you are well over it. Through my eyes, traffic and Lagos go hand in hand, moving between two different locations can sometimes seem daunting due to the high possibility of encountering traffic en route your destination. Lagos may be small in terms of land space but, the road network and number of commuters on the road could turn short, quick drives to long annoying ones.

Virtually every commuter in this city is in a hurry, probably another reason for traffic peaking at certain hours. Everyone wants to get to their destinations with minimal time wasted, unfortunately, commuting (via commercial vehicles) leaves you with no choice than having some minutes or hours wasted due to "unnecessarily necessary" stops along the way, for passengers to embark or disembark. A drive of an hour could get half an hour added on due to these stops, but then, people have to get to places and keep moving *shrugs*.

Lagos being Lagos, the traffic sometimes could be “interesting” despite how annoying it could be in reality. From banter between passengers to the happenings along the road, traffic traders (it may not be right or legal but it still happens in certain parts of the city) amongst others,  it may not be as dull as it could be annoying.

Now, my issue with traffic in Lagos lies in the fact that it can be made minimal by taking certain steps (it hardly ever is rocket science). The steps could be creating alternate routes or fixing the road--both of which are kinda long term. In some cases, it could have to do with getting tankers and/or trucks off the road, at times, those vehicle could occupy a whole lane that could have eased some of the traffic--classic example Apapa bridge (as at when this written). Some of it can even be resolved using traffic light and active wardens to control the flow of commuters. Only on few occasions will there be a need for a revision of the road plan to solve the issue--or at least minimize--of traffic.
Lagos is a bubbly place but, traffic sure can hit one with the blues for the first couple of trips in Lagos or every now and then.

QUICK ONE:
 As someone with some experience with the madness called Lagos traffic, I have a couple of tips for you to if not avoid, minimize the hours you spend in traffic.

• Get your own chopper or
• A flying car
• “Fly bike” (could be risky under certain if not most situations)
• Walk or swim wherever you are going to.

Just kidding but on a serious note though these below can help:

• Make good use of social media to track the traffic- certain twitter accounts are dedicated to monitoring Lagos traffic (yes, it’s that bad).
• Take it into your schedule- leaving a couple minutes earlier than you normally would could go a long way in avoiding some of the traffic.
• Prepare your mind (traffic can be nerve-wracking at times).
• Find an alternate route if possible.

A tired Lagos child,
'Mina.