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The popular Ojuelegba bridge in Lagos State is a notorious death trap the Lagos State Government has yet to find a solution to.
Vehicular accidents on the bridge often involve petrol tankers or containerised trailers falling off the bridge and crushing other road users to death.
Oftentimes, when Ojuelegba trends on social media, it’s usually about accidents involving a truck or a trailer on the bridge or an articulated truck breaking down on the bridge and causing chaotic traffic that spreads to contiguous areas including, Mushin, Yaba, Lawanson, the whole of Surulere and by extension, some parts of Lagos Island.
The latest of these cyclical incidents happened in the early hours of Tuesday, April 19, 2022, when a truck loaded with plywood had an accident on the bridge. Pictures on social media show the contents of the truck sitting precariously on the edge of the bridge.
While it took traffic officials some hours to repack the fallen contents and free up the road, the good news this time was that, unlike previous similar cases, no lives were lost.
Earlier in the month, on the night of Saturday, April 2, 2022, many people died after a trailer fell off the bridge and landed on a car beneath it.
This happened seven months after a container fell off the bridge, and landed on a car with four occupants.
While the four occupants luckily survived the incident, in 2015, occupants of a Sports Utility Vehicle, SUV, a black Toyota Corolla and a white Nissan Sunny saloon were all crushed to death when a container fastened to a cement-laden trailer lost its leash and fell off the bridge.
Containerised trucks and trailers falling off the flyover is a common occurrence on Ojuelegba bridge.
However, due to the incessant accidents on the bridge, the Lagos State Government some time ago barred heavy-duty and articulated vehicles from plying the flyover, but truck drivers allegedly destroyed the overhead barricade mounted on the bridge.
Explaining the reason for the recurrent accidents on Ojuelegba bridge, an official of Lagos State Traffic Management (LASTMA) who does not want his name mentioned said there is a construction error on the bridge.
According to him, the sharp bend at the middle of the bridge is usually the cause of accidents on the flyover.
He said, “There is a construction error at Ojuelegba bridge, there is a sharp bend on both sides of the bridge. Articulated vehicles coming from stadium to ascend the bridge will have to slow down, they don’t have to ascend it with speed. But immediately they ascend the bridge (with speed) there is a problem because of the bend at the middle of the bridge.”
The same explanation applies to vehicles plying the bridge from Fadeyi through Dorman Long Bridge before getting to Ojuelegba.
He said, “There is no way they’re coming with speed from Dorman Long bridge that there won’t be a problem when they get to the middle of that bend portion of Ojuelegba bridge. The best solution to the falling of truck from that bridge is to stop them from plying it”.
It’s been observed that most of the accidents on the Ojuelegba bridge happened at the sharp bend on both sides of the bridge.