Most of the accidents that occur on Nigerian highways are ones that could have been avoidable even before they occurred.
Road networks within the country may be bad but the main issue
remains that various vehicles and automobiles ply the roads without
restriction or government constructing alternate route for heavy
vehicles.
In the penultimate year, most of the death recorded in the country
occurred through road accident with the most being perpetrated by tanker
explosion across various areas of the country.
In a recent scare of road accident, there was panic at Imo State
University Junction in Owerri yesterday where a massive accident could
have occurred.
It was reported that a heavy duty vehicle otherwise known as a caterpillar rammed into 11 buses after losing its brakes.
The accident, which caused pandemonium at the ever-busy junction, scared many commuters, students and traders.
According to Southern City News, an eyewitness identified as Collins
Ibe revealed that the tragedy was averted because the driver of the
caterpillar honked the horn of the heavy-duty vehicle and shouted when
he saw that the brakes had failed.
According
to him, the alarm raised by the driver made people, including
passengers, who were inside many of the buses to jump out and run for
their lives.
He said, “It is a miracle that the caterpillar did not kill people.
It rammed into 11 buses and badly damaged them. If not for the alarm
raised by the driver of the caterpillar, it would have been a serious
tragedy.
“You know that IMSU junction is a very busy place. There are a lot of
commercial activities at the place. Apart from buying and selling of
things, commercial drivers have created an emergency motor park there.
“The caterpillar was going to town from the Okigwe Road area. As it
approached the IMSU junction, which has a hill, the driver discovered
that he lost control.
“The driver, in a bid to save lives, began shouting and blowing the
horn for people to steer clear of the road. It was during this process
that drivers and passengers at IMSU junction jumped out of the vehicles
and ran for their lives. Fortunately, no life was lost.”
Even as the accident was averted, the next one may be brutal which is
why calls have intensified for the government to step up to the plate
and create alternate route for heavy duty vehicles in order to reduce
accidents on Nigerian roads.
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