Traffic in Nigeria

I always seem to be talking about traffic – it does kind of fascinate me .. perhaps because I spend a lot of time on the road?

Road use in Nigeria is VERY different from elsewhere. The roads are pretty good around the metropolitan areas – especially Abuja. But there are no white lines painted anywhere. And after careful study of driving for about 10 minutes, I realise why – no-one stays in any lane. They all drift (or dash) across the road so they can get further a few milliseconds faster. There is a definite lack of robots (traffic lights to my non-South African readers) and people have to edge their way across 3 lane highways to cross them – nightmare. Having said that, the traffic flow in Abuja is surprisingly good – and the volume not so high.

Lagos is another story. The city is much older, with smaller, less well maintained roads and the traffic jams are legendary. The drivers just edge and push and won’t wait or give way for anyone. Everyone I met over the last couple of days was late for meetings because of traffic grid locks. I am now about 300kms north of Lagos and the driver who brought me here did so at an average speed of 120 kms/h ... often reaching 160 or 180 kms/h. And the road was full of massive, heavily laden lorries and we experienced several bursts of torrential rain. The speed wasn’t too bad near Lagos but once we got out into the rural area and the potholes started, he would swerve across the road alarmingly and aquaplane wildly in the rain. By the time we arrived, I had jumped on the brakes so many times and I was so tense that my shoulders were nearly attached to my ears!

Sadly, as we neared Ondo, we passed a recent accident where a motorbike had lost control and both the driver and passenger were dead on the road. A very sobering sight.

Remember ladies and gentlemen, better to arrive late than to be late.