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Rethinking traffic management in Lagos: Role of physical planning and GIS technology – EnviroNews
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Lagos needs effective traffic enforcement. There is no doubt about that. But effective traffic enforcement is a function of transport planning and GIS technology.
With millions of daily trips, congested roads, commercial vehicles, motorcycles, pedestrians and an increasing vehicle population, traffic regulations are essential for road safety and the efficient movement of people and goods.
For smooth movement of people and goods, good physical planning and deployment of GIS technology are very important. In the same breadth, good traffic enforcement must also consider the effects of physical planning on the circulation of people and goods in our cities.
While traffic enforcement is important, it must be fair, predictable, transparent and properly planned. When enforcement becomes selective, discretionary or excessively dependent on roadside interactions between officers and motorists, it can create an environment in which corruption and extortion thrive.
This raises an uncomfortable but important question:
Are some aspects of traffic enforcement in Lagos unintentionally encouraging corruption?
Selective Enforcement: One Law, Different Treatment?
One of the most common complaints among motorists is the perception of selective enforcement.
Commercial danfo drivers, Keke Marwa riders and Okada riders are frequently seen committing traffic offences – driving against traffic, stopping indiscriminately, picking up passengers at inappropriate locations, driving on restricted portions of the road, obstructing traffic or ignoring traffic signals.
Yet, motorists often observe situations where LASTMA or Police officers appear to tolerate such violations, sometimes allowing them to continue with little or no intervention.
However, when a private car owner commits what appears to be a similar offence, the response can be dramatically different. Enforcement officers may quickly descend on the vehicle and the motorist.
Whether every such observation is justified or not, the perception of unequal enforcement is itself a serious problem in Lagos State.
The law should not operate according to the category of vehicle or the perceived status of the driver.
If an offence is wrong, it should be wrong whether committed by a danfo driver, an Okada rider, a Keke Marwa rider or the driver of a private SUV.
The principle should be One law. One standard. One enforcement regime.
Double Enforcement and the Problem of “Double Fines”
Another area requiring urgent attention is what motorists perceive as double enforcement.
The Traffic Management Solution (TMS) provides a way for recording traffic violations and processing penalties. This is a positive development because technology can reduce arbitrary enforcement and provide evidence of offences.
But what happens when a motorist has already been captured by the formal system and is subsequently stopped by a Police Officer or another enforcement officer over the same incident?
The motorist may then face an unofficial demand for money on the roadside, while still remaining liable for the formal fine recorded through the official system.
This creates a disturbing situation:
The motorist may pay twice – unofficially at the roadside and again through the formal process.
When such practices occur, they undermine the purpose of digital traffic enforcement.
The solution to this problem is straightforward: once an offence has been electronically captured and a penalty assigned, every subsequent enforcement relating to that same incident or traffic offence should not occur.
With the deployment of digital traffic enforcement solution in Lagos State, there should be no room for any officer to use the same offence as an opportunity to extort offending motorists again.
When Enforcement Officers Create the Conditions for an Offence
Perhaps one of the most troubling concerns raised by motorists is the allegation that some enforcement officers deliberately create situations in which motorists are forced into committing a traffic offence.
Consider a simple example.
A vehicle breaks down or is deliberately parked in a way that obstructs part of the road and reduces the space available to other motorists.
As another motorist approaches, there may be very little room to pass safely. To avoid hitting the stationary vehicle, the motorist is forced to move away from the obstruction, perhaps by entering another lane or briefly crossing a restricted area.
From the perspective of an enforcement officer, this movement may appear to be a traffic offence.
However, the motorist may not have deliberately violated the traffic rule. The manoeuvre may simply have been a necessary response to an obstruction, with no safe or reasonable alternative available.
If enforcement officers are present, the situation can become an opportunity for enforcement – and, in the worst cases, an opportunity for roadside extortion.
This is precisely why traffic enforcement should be supported by evidence and context.
An isolated photograph of a vehicle’s position may not tell the complete story. Enforcement systems should therefore consider the road configuration, obstruction, traffic conditions, signage, lane markings and the sequence of events.
In my opinion, the question should not simply be:
“Did the vehicle cross this line?”
It should also be:
“Why did the vehicle cross the line?”
Traffic Management Is a Function of Physical Planning
This brings us to an important issue, physical planning, which is often overlooked in traffic management in Nigeria.
Traffic management is not simply an enforcement function.
It is a transport and urban planning issue.
Transport planners should therefore be involved in every facet of traffic management in Lagos State – from the design of traffic schemes and road hierarchies to junction management, parking policy, public transport operations, pedestrian movement, traffic calming, enforcement matters and the review of traffic offences.
If a particular offence occurs repeatedly at the same location, the first question should not always be:
“How many motorists can we punish or fine?”
The more appropriate question may be:
“What is happening at this location that is causing motorists to behave in a particular way?”
Sometimes the problem maybe poor road design.
Sometimes it may be inadequate signage.
Sometimes it may be an unclear junction arrangement.
Sometimes it may be illegal parking.
Sometimes it may be inadequate public transport infrastructure.
Sometimes it may be simply poor compliance.
Understanding these different traffic problems require physical planning and analysis, not enforcement alone.
GIS Technology: A Veritable Tool for Understanding Traffic Offence Hotspots in Lagos State
This is where Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can make a significant contribution to traffic management in Lagos State.
Every traffic offence recorded through TMS and other enforcement channels contains valuable spatial (geographic) information: where, when, what type of offence, vehicle category and circumstances surrounding the incident.
Lagos should use this information to develop a comprehensive Traffic Offence Hotspot Map.
GIS technology can identify locations where particular offences occur repeatedly.
For example:
- Where are illegal U-turns concentrated?
- Which junctions have the highest incidence of traffic-light violations?
- Where does illegal parking occur most frequently?
- Which corridors experience the highest number of obstruction-related offences?
- Are commercial vehicles responsible for a disproportionate number of particular offences?
- Are certain offences associated with poor road geometry or inadequate signage?
- Do traffic violations increase during particular periods of the day?
Once these patterns are mapped, the causes can be investigated and mitgated.
The solution may be better signage, redesigned junctions, improved road markings, parking controls, traffic-calming measures, changes in public transport operations or better enforcement.
GIS should therefore be used not merely to map where motorists commit traffic offences, but to understand why such traffic offences occur.
Reduce Traffic Fines to Reduce the Incentive for Extortion
Another issue that deserves reconsideration is the level of traffic fines.
A very high fine can unintentionally create an incentive for roadside settlement.
Suppose a motorist is faced with a substantial official penalty and an officer informally offers to “settle” the matter for a fraction of that amount.
The offending motorist may calculate that the unofficial payment is financially preferable, particularly where the formal process appears complicated or time-consuming.
This creates the perfect environment for corruption.
Traffic fines should therefore be reasonable, proportionate and sufficiently moderate to discourage negotiation at the roadside.
The objective of a fine should primarily be deterrence and compliance — not the creation of an amount so burdensome that motorists are tempted to negotiate outside the system.
At the same time, reducing fines should not mean reducing accountability. Repeat offenders and serious offences can still attract stronger sanctions through a transparent, graduated penalty system.
Lagos Needs Enforcement That Is Fair, Digital and Data-Driven
Lagos does not need less traffic enforcement.
It needs better traffic enforcement.
A credible system should have several characteristics:
First, the same traffic law should apply equally to private motorists, danfo drivers, Keke Marwa riders, Okada riders and every other road user.
Second, roadside cash transactions should be eliminated. Fines should be paid only through official government channels. Therefore, the fines should be fair, proportionate, just, and easy to pay.
Third, every enforcement action should have an auditable record, including the officer, vehicle, location, time, offence and supporting evidence.
Fourth, traffic fines should be reviewed to ensure that they are proportionate and do not create excessive incentives for informal settlements.
Fifth, transport planners should be integrated into traffic management decisions.
Sixth, Lagos should establish a GIS-based traffic offence database and hotspot mapping system to identify the spatial and temporal causes of traffic violations.
The Bigger Question
Traffic enforcement should not become a contest between the motorist and the enforcement officer.
It should be a partnership between government, road users, transport planners, law-enforcement agencies and technology.
A motorist who commits an offence should be sanctioned.
But a motorist who has been forced into an unusual manoeuvre by an obstruction, malfunction traffic lights, lack of signage, faded signage should not automatically be treated as a deliberate offender.
A commercial driver should not receive preferential treatment because of the vehicle he drives.
A private motorist should not be targeted simply because enforcement is easier against him.
And an officer should not have the discretion to convert a statutory fine into a roadside negotiation.
The objective should be a Lagos where traffic regulations are clear, consistently enforced, evidence-based and difficult to manipulate.
The question Lagos should therefore ask is not merely:
“How do we catch more traffic offenders?”
It should be:
“How do we design a traffic management system that produces safer roads, better mobility, fair enforcement and fewer opportunities for corruption?”
That is where enforcement, transport planning, GIS and good urban governance must come together.
Lagos deserves nothing less.
By Leke Adeniji, GIS Consultant, Chartered Estate Surveyor & Valuer, Urban & Regional Planning Professional
