Some motorists and passengers plying the Rumuomoi Road, leading to Rumuola New Road have blamed commercial vehicle operators and, most especially the volunteer road controllers for being responsible for the irreconcilable traffic build up around the location always in the morning hours.
They raised fresh concern over the way and manner handlers and controllers of traffic in the area have continued to aggravate the situation of the road based on their personal discretion without regard for the loss of man hour.
This formed some of the opinions expressed in the wake of disagreement which broke out at about 7:20 in the morning of Tuesday.
At the intersection connecting adjourning roads to the main Romuomoi Road, a woman who drove in a Toyota Corolla car was asked to wait while traffic from the other end took the turn to move, but unfortunately seeing that no vehicle was coming immediately, the woman decided to cross over and continue with her journey, when the volunteer traffic controllers pounced on her, insisting she would wait till others move on. This brought about a heated argument, which resulted in exchange of words and, when other motorists could not bear the drama, some passengers joined in attacking the road marshals. This development led to the shutting the access against vehicles on the queue line ready to take their turn. This was the case as two young men, being passengers of a commercial taxi, frowned at the situation and dared the road traffic volunteers to continue holding the woman who was on the same traffic line with their commercial vehicle.
But attempts by the two men to prevail over the argument failed leading to further rancour, and just as the traffic volunteers abandoned their duty post for a show down, one of the passengers made a phone call to someone he claimed was a soldier from Bori Camp (Port Harcourt Barracks), this singular act led to the end of the drama as the waiting line was available to move after some 20 minutes during the rush hour. Obviously to avoid trouble associated sleeping over in the Bori camp, the traffic controllers decided to give way finally.
Another commercial driver, Confidence Aniete, stated after observing the situation, that the volunteers were now out to harass motorists instead of facing the job they were called to do. Though, he appreciated efforts put in by them sometimes the volunteers because of persistent traffic at rush hour, he wondered why there would continue to be disagreement by those who should help alleviate the sufferings of the motorists in the area.
Another resident of the area, Sam Ikiru, noted that originally, the Rumuomoi road was designed for construction as a double lane but could not understand why the plan was abandoned. He recalled that demolition had taken place to accommodate the double lane, arguing that this remains the permanent solution to continuous traffic on the road. He also blamed commercial taxi drivers as those responsible for terrible traffic in the area. “They need to hussle, so they make fast moves on daily basis. Instead of making money, they waste time by driving against traffic. You need to see how they park anyhow on the road to get passengers. All these are contributing factors”, he said, calling on the Rivers State government to revisit the road in order to find a permanent solution to traffic hold up in the area.
