The Enforcement Unit of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) said it impounded 20 commercial vehicles on Apongbon Bridge and Ikorodu Roundabouts, in Lagos, over the weekend, as part of its clampdown operations on commercial vehicles, operating illegal parks and garages in the state.
The Authority’s General Manager, Mr Bolaji Oreagba, in a statement issued by the Director, Public Affairs Unit, LASTMA, Mr Adebayo Taofiq, stated that the illegal activities of the owners of the commercial buses/cars on bridges and roundabouts across the state contravene the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018.
He described it as nauseating, seeing those commercial bus drivers constitute public nuisances by operating illegally on bridges and roundabouts, thereby causing avoidable traffic gridlock and inconveniencing other motorists and road users.
Mr Oreagba revealed that the Enforcement Unit of the Authority had to embark on the exercise at Apongbon Bridge and Ikorodu Roundabouts after the recalcitrant drivers, who had refused to operate within government-designated garages and parks across the State, failed to comply with several warnings issued to them.
He noted that the Authority would not rest on his oars in curbing illegal activities of the unruly commercial buses/cars operators as the present administration is expending huge resources on constructing standard Bus Terminals in every part of the State.
“We would continue to ensure free flow of traffic movement around Bridges and Roundabouts across the State by scaling up our enforcement and clampdown operations on these stubborn commercial buses operating illegal parks, garages and car mart in the State,” Oreagba declared.
Speaking in the same vein, Mr Odunuga Olukayode, the Head of the Enforcement Unit of LASTMA, expressed the Agency’s commitment to unceasingly clamping down on disobedient commercial vehicle operators until zero tolerance on illegal garages and parks is achieved across the State.
Mr Odunuga also revealed that the arrested drivers of the 20 impounded commercial buses had been fined N100k each after they all pleaded guilty to their charges when they were arraigned before a Mobile Court.