Hold up, go slow, Traffic and Stand still

23-11-2021
Tuesday 
12:00 am
#58

Shout out to Kenny Blaq, the inspiration of this article. Kenny Blaq is a Nigerian music comedian. In celebration of his birthday last month, he organized a little gathering. It was there he sang the song

🎵Ibadan get Go slow

🎶Enugu get Hold up

🎵Abuja get Traffic

🎶 But Lagos get Standstill

He started mentioning names of places in Lagos where there is always slow movement of cars.

Nigerians will know the meaning of those words mentioned above. But for those whose country road is always free and doesn't know what those words mean;

Image source

Hold up, Go slow, Traffic

Hold up, Go slow, Traffic are terms used to describe snarl-up situations. It is generally called a traffic jam i.e the period whereby cars move slowly on the road, caused by accident or any other agent. There are countries which experience Traffic jams every day. In my country, it has become a normal thing. We experience Go slow, hold up, traffic jam or whatever it is called every day we travel through road.

Standstill

This sounds funny but it is the truth that needs to be spoken about. Lagosians face traffic every day of their life. Every other state has this hold-up and slow movement of vehicles, but Lagos' own is exceptional.

Stand still is what we have on Lagos roads every day. Civilians wake up as early as 4:00 am to go to work whose resumption time is 8:00 am. Leaving home early most times favors people. Around 4:00 am, 5:00 am, the road is always car-free. Only office workers would be on road. If eventually, one way or the other, worst-case scenario before 8:00 am you'll get to wherever you are going to.

Causes of Traffic Jam

• Potholes on roads:

  Potholes are one of the causes of Traffic jams in most countries. Drivers need to slow down while passing through potholes to avoid their cars from being damaged. This leads to slow movement as many potholes can be on a single road.

• Unnecessary packing of vehicles/trucks beside the road:

  Some truck drivers pack beside the road and leave the truck there till their desired time. Cars will have to wait for each other to pass through the spot where the truck is packed. This also leads to traffic Jams, and most times not just one truck is packed.

• Accidents:

  Traffic jam in this case is always unexpected and unintentional. When an accident occurs, all cars need to wait for the emergency services to show before passing through the accident spot. Especially when there is a fire outbreak. The fire extinguisher services must put the light off first before any car cab passes by it to avoid getting caught with the fire.

• Over occupied road:

  When there are too many vehicles on the road, there would surely be a hold-up. This is effective when a lot of non-road-worthy cars are on the road.

• One-lane In a supposed Four-lane road:

  In situations whereby three different roads link to one. At that particular place, there will be a traffic jam. Plenty of cars coming from three different routes, and heading to the same road leads to slow movement.

• The last one is unprofessional driving:

  Uncertified and unqualified drivers can cause Traffic Jams sometimes due to their inexperience.

I remember an experience I and my brothers had in December 2017 while we were going to EXPERIENCE (A yearly Christian worship concert in Teslem Balogun Stadium, Lagos Nigeria. Where a lot of gospel artists both Nigerians and Foreign perform)

That year we left home around noon. At first, we were held up, the cars were moving slowly. Then this Standstill started, Stuck in the middle of the road, a lot of cars ahead and a lot of cars behind.

In a very hot son, we were in a bus emitting heat from all corners. And I hate being in situations like that. It affects my stomach most time, I do wonder why others don't feel the same way I do. I'm still yet to find out the reason why that happens to me every time.

We spent over thirty (30) minutes on a spot. Then some passengers came down from the car and started trekking. Among those that got down from the bus was a young couple wearing the same attire. Several minutes after they left, the cars finally moved. We realized the Stand-still (Traffic jam) was caused by a truck that got stuck trying to turn on a single lane.

We continued our journey, on getting to our destination, we saw the couple that came down from the car in the Traffic jam. They got there before us that took a bus. Lagos will let you know transportation by leg is faster than transportation by vehicles.

Possible solutions to the Traffic jam 🚦

• Drivers should adhere to traffic rules and obey road officials.

• Construction of good roads and reconstruction of already destroyed roads.

• Multiple lane roads should be constructed.

• Vehicles/trucks packed by roadsides should be tolled by the government and the owner should be fined.

• Some cars that are no longer good need to be banned from use.

• Drivers without licenses should also be fined because some of them might not have driving experience thereby causing unnecessary Traffic jams.

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