Reckless Driving Tops Reasons We Experience Long Build-up In Port Harcourt- Motorists

Some motorists have identified some of the causes of traffic build up in some parts of Port Harcourt, apart from the fact that the on-going construction of fly over remains the immediate cause there is traffic in some locations.

This formed some of the opinions of concerned motorists, mainly private owners who spoke on the development. Recall that the Rivers State government late last year flagged off the construction of fly over projects in three major locations within the Port Harcourt metropolis, namely Rumuokoro, Artillery and Garrison areas. The projects, which were awarded to Julius Berger Construction Company by the governor Nyesom Wike-led administration, are expected to span 18 months.

But, following recent assessment by the National Network newspaper, it was gathered that the project which started from the base line is also at a very critical stage, making assess impossible to some parts on Aba   road in Port Harcourt. Most commercial drivers who daily plied the roads presently have no thoroughfare anymore from one end of the road to the other. Some other road users also make necessary detours or take shortcuts to get to their destinations whenever possible.

Speaking on the persistent traffic jams that characterize vehicular movements around the sites of the fly over projects, a motorist, Mr. Clement Odum, who is also a special Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps analyzed the situation thus: ”From the look of things, the challenge everyone is facing here either as a motorist or as a pedestrian is that everyone of us is paying for development which will take a while to take place. Every resident of Port Harcourt is affected anywhere you may be right now, because you need to go to work; your business takes you out and for so many other reasons.

“But it is appalling to see how attitude on the road is making things to get out of order every day. We have adults on the roads who cannot regard the rights of other vehicle owners because they are in a hurry than other people. “The impatience of commercial drivers is similarly most worrisome.

“I just want to appeal to our law enforcement agents to double their efforts by constituting special unit to improve traffic situation in Port Harcourt. Some areas are in dire need of road warden or traffic control officers.

“Since the challenge of movement started, I have been doing volunteer job with few colleagues as special marshal of the FRSC at different locations in Port Harcourt to ease traffic congestion. I will expect that individuals would rise up to the challenge to help solve the problem,” he concluded.

On his own part, Chidi Anya, a commercial taxi driver, narrated how the on-going construction is affecting his business. He noted that, apart from increasing the fare from N50 to N100,no other options for him and his colleagues to make money as usual. “It is difficult to meet up with delivery agreement with the owners of some of these commercial vehicles, that is why you see us rushing to and fro and sometimes it does not work because when you run into a major hold up , you can’t predict when you will get out. That is why some of us violate traffic laws sometimes, including running one way to meet up. I know it is an offence to do that. But i am happy when i see disable persons or others doing volunteer work, it makes our job easy.”

Also speaking, Joy Kinika, a bus passenger, called on government to find a way of reducing road blockade, like paying more people to control traffic and punishing offenders on the road.

Another observer, Martin Usman, called on the construction firm handling the flyover project to work according to schedule to deliver the projects. He appealed to them to also create space for vehicles to pass when necessary to mitigate the effects the on-going projects is currently having on residents. He appealed to commercial and private drivers to apply caution by not being reckless on the road as their activities may affect others negatively. He lamented that there will be a huge man-hour loss this time but people should understand that at the end it is for the general good.