Road Safety
You wan fly, which is the caption for this week’s piece, is a cautionary Nigerian expression often used to warn a reckless driver to beware of his risky antics. It was recently used by a female driver in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory which prompted this piece. Her encounter with an impatient driver at a signalized traffic light at Utako on Wednesday May 6th was quite interesting and an eye opener on the beauty of seeing a driver, especially female, passionately committed to doing the right thing.
The female driver and my humble self were patiently waiting for the traffic light to signal our lane, when this mild drama ensued. From my position I couldn’t spot the driver but his continuous loud honking for her to move, signaled a reaction responsible for this writeup. Unable to bear the nuisance value of the impatient driver, she wound down her car window, and said to the driver, ’you won fly? Or do you want me to disregard traffic rules’’. Thereafter she wound up.
Her reaction drew my attention and made me feel tall. I have adopted it as the caption for this piece. I know how moody I get seeing deviant drivers such as the one I cited display their antics. On the other hand, I get as excited seeing drivers like the female driver whose value for life is worth mentioning.
But do you know that there is a special breed of drivers such as the one I encountered on our roads who are fearless, ambitious and apparently equipped with wings invisible to others.I know you know them. You have seen and encountered them. Perhaps you have braced yourself for the worst as they sped past at intersections, the traffic light glowing a stubborn unmistakable red.
While the rest of us obey, pause and contemplate the meaning of patience, they surge forward with a confidence that suggests they are not bound by earthly rules nor by the heavenly rule of life and death.I cannot like the female driver ask such drivers: you wan fly? This question is the only logical question or explanation for his type since red lights are mere suggestions for those who believe gravity itself is optional.
Why else would any sane driver accelerate dangerously and excessively into a junction where traffic lights are already in motion, pedestrians are striding and disaster is waiting politely to be invited.
In our clime where survival on our busy roads depends on a mix of prayer, caution and instinct, the red-light runner is a curious character. He approaches the intersection not with hesitation but with a sense of destiny. The red light becomes, in his mind, a personal challenge. Why stop? Stopping is for the ordinary livid novice. Not for him who is on a mission to catch a crucial appointment that cannot wait or even an appointment with life itself.
You might think this is about impatience. It is not. Impatience suggests a desire to save time. But the redlight runner is not saving time; he is gambling with it or like I wrote a fortnight, bargaining with the devil. He trades seconds for the possibility of catastrophe, as though life were a game of chance and intersections were casino tables or museum artifacts.
Observe the scene like a plot in a comic act: vehicles from other directions begin to move as their light turns green. Pedestrians step off the curb, trusting in the social traffic contract that red means stop. Then like a dramatic twist no one asked for, our man on a mission burst through the intersection. Horns blaring, brakes screeching and hearts racing. For a brief moment, foolishness, stupidity, fate and physics collide in a tense negotiation.
Sometimes nothing happens. No near misses. No fatal collision. No deaths and mangled bodies, just commotion. The driver escapes unscathed, perhaps even satisfied. In his mind, this is Formula One skill. He might foolishly boast that I made it and scan the environment asking onlookers rhetorically, did you see that?
I know you made it this time. But remember that the road is patient but never forgives. Remember also, the tragedy that red light running kills. Maims. Destroys infrastructures. It equally reflects a culture of impunity, disorderliness. It is also a quiet disdain against order which we badly crave for and a casual dismissal of rules designed in the spirit of good governance to protect drivers, pedestrians as well as other road users.
For the record, traffic laws are not arbitrary inconveniences; they are the thin thread that holds together the fabric of public safety. So, when one driver decides these threads do not apply, the entire safety system begins to crack
Yet, this irresponsible behavior persists daily. In Lagos. Abuja. Port-Harcourt and all other cities are lucky to enjoy the beauty of signalized traffic lights. Why? Because consequences feel distant. Or perhaps, there is a mindset that equates rule breaking with cleverness or like we call it in our clime, sharpness. To such deviants, obeying traffic lights is naïve, running the red light is a mark of street wisdom. But honestly, there is nothing wise about turning an intersection into a theatre of war. Of madness. And of pure insanity.
Please pause for a second and imagine if every driver adopts this insane suicidal driving philosophy. Every red light becomes optional. Every junction is a battlefield of competing impulses. The result would not be efficiency or speed-it would be gridlock at best or multiple road traffic crashes, deaths and injuries at worst. The road would no longer function as shared spaces but devolve into an arena of individual madness and recklessness.
Unfortunately, deviants keep weaving through traffic with the temerity of someone convinced that rules are written for others. They are exceptions and therefore not part of the system where trust counts. Herein lies the tragedy. Road safety is not a race or competition. It is a collective agreement that depends on trust-trust that when the light turns green, others will stop; trust that pedestrians can cross without fear; trust that rules mean something. Each red-light infraction punctures that trust, replacing predictability with uncertainty
So, my question to you today is; You wan fly? Do you know that if you drive through traffic lights like James Bond, mistaking signalized traffic junctions for movie sets and believe they are museum artifacts, you will someday fly. It may be brief. Maybe violently and without control. You may survive again or end up in a morgue. The truth is that the laws of physics which most of us don’t really know are far less forgiving than traffic rules. They do not negotiate. They do not overlook it. They simply respond.
I know we need more enforcement. Technology driven enforcement. The Federal Road Safety Corps needs more logistics. More funding. I mean crazy crazy funding. Improved infrastructure. Maybe more personnel. More training. The Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed and his team will double their efforts to promote safer life, fuller lives
But I can tell you for free that what is actually needed is a mind shift. One that sees compliance as strength and civic responsibilities. Obeying the red light is not submission; it is an act of respect for the precious gift of life, for order, for decency, and for everybody, including your loved ones who share the same road with you.
So, when next you approach a red light, consider that the few seconds you might save running it are insignificant compared to what you stand to lose. Time may be precious but life is more precious and like God said in His Holy book, in Deuteronomy 30:19, I place before you two paths: life and death, blessings and curses and lovingly urges everyone, including the red-light runner and traffic deviants to choose life. The difference between arriving safely and arriving ‘late’ lies in this simple obedience which demonstrates appreciation to God Almighty for His gift of life to us all. It also demonstrates discipline, civility and responsiveness.
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