By Tosyn Bucknor
I drive daily and, for the most part, I don’t mind doing so because driving in Lagos has taught me a few things. 10 things, to be exact.
10. Life is sometimes red, amber or green
I’m always in ‘go’ mode but traffic lights teach you patience. You can’t always ‘go’; sometimes you ‘think’ and ‘review’, and other times, you ‘stop’ or ‘pause’
9. Sometimes, the light is green but the cars still aren’t moving
The traffic lights are sometimes road decorations on busy days. The light can be green but you wouldn’t even be able to move.
There are things we can’t control, no matter how hard we try.
Some delays you’ll never understand
Ever been in traffic for minutes and hours and then you get to some point in the road and it’s free and you don’t know why there was traffic in the first place?
Yup! Life comes with those delays sometimes.
8. Better to be late than be the late
I heard this while in Primary School and it seems simple enough.
7. Zebra crossing is NOT a suggestion
We don’t obey the zebra crossing rules right now in Lagos, except for some places in Ikeja where people actually stop. As the joke goes, in Naija, Zebra crossing means tom-tom advert.
6. But it’s not the whole road either
While we may be ready to stop at the Zebra crossings, we would appreciate it if people didn’t cross with reckless abandon 5 minutes before or after the Zebra Crossing.
Rules are there for a reason; you step on a zebra crossing, people stop for you, you cross before or after one, probably not.
5. If we all stayed in our own lanes…
One of the biggest headaches on Lagos roads is people that either cross lanes (especially without indicating), or who drive right on the dividing lines as opposed to picking one lane and driving in it.
Stay in your lane, folks! It makes life easier for all of us!
4. Mr, ‘Take am easy’
Free road but he’s doing 40. ‘Bumper to bumper’ traffic but he’s speeding.
Let’s face it, some people just take things slow or too fast/recklessly.
We all drive at different speeds no matter what the road offers us so don’t get impatient with those who do things a little slower than you, and don’t feel pressurised to go as fast as those ahead of you.
3. Road Rage
Ever scratched someone’s car and they come at you with such anger that you honestly get confused?
Lagosians carry a lot of anger in them which can only be expressed via honking, cursing and hitting. If you have road rage, figure out why, and don’t let someone’s rage derail your day.
2. What’s a sidewalk?
Ha ha ha. Welcome to ‘Driving on a Narrow Street 101’.
No one, while walking on a narrow street, accepts that the street is not a walk way. And no one on said street thinks it is their responsibility to walk or cross responsibly.
Ignore that at your own peril
1. It’s not always about who’s right, it’s about who’s alive
My dad was driving me once and slowed down where he had the right of way. I asked, ‘Was that guy right, daddy?’ He patted me on the head and said, ‘O child, it is not about who’s right but who’s alive.’
Okay, cut the Hollywood out, there was no patting of the head and there was no ‘o child’, but you get the drift.
Drive smart out there folks and, as the FRSC say, Arrive Alive.
