February 1, 2010
The difficulty of commuting is one of the greatest challenges faced by residence of Lagos. The state government in appreciation of this fact is expending large sums of money on improving the road infrastructure and the deployment of traffic officers.
While commending these moves, I will like to suggest a few measures that can help complement the ongoing effort. In addition to been inexpensive, the measures can be implemented immediately, and society at large can begin to benefit from them right away, unlike the large projects that span several months and sometime years.
1. A significant proportion of the traffic congestion on our roads can be traced to the rough patches and pot holes on the roads. Several of these start out as little holes/depression on the road, which when unattended to, expand into grapping holes that cause major traffic congestions.
To help solve this problem, I will like to suggest that the state government designate a number of approved civil engineering firms for each Local Government Area in the state. Residents or business organization in a particular locality can take competitive bids form and engage such firms to fix pot holes / rough patches in their neighborhood while the holes are still small and inexpensive to repair. This will be a marked improvement over the present practice where everyone watches while small holes / patches enlarge until they render the entire road unmotorable and the repair cost become so enormous, that only the government can handle it.
The above could be expanded to a scheme wherein the state and local government will stand ready to provide match fund to neighborhoods that can raise 50% of the cost of tarring its local road.
2. There are a several spots around the state where minor re-constructions or re-organisations can help reduce the traffic grid lock presently been experienced at those particular locations.
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The following are a few examples:
There is usually a gridlock of the traffic coming down from the 3rd Mainland bridge and those from Awolowo Road at the Onikan roundabout.
A reduction in the size/circumference of the roundabout at Onikan would allow for 2/3 vehicle to negotiate the roundabout at the same time and go a long way in easing the flow of traffic at that major intersection.
The Mobil filling station at Maryland is another spot where there is always a traffic gridlock. The problem there is caused by the shift of the bus stop from its designated place in front of the Heliport to the front of Mobil filling station. A return of the bus stop to its proper place will ease the constriction of the lanes and similarly help ease traffic at that junction.
In addition to the spots identified above, the state government can challenge every LSTMA official to be on a continual lookout for opportunities where inexpensive tinkering with the existing arrangements can help ease up congestion, by making this a important aspect of their annual job appraisal.
3. The menace of one way driving is another contributor to the traffic congestion in the city, and notwithstanding the various effort of the government to stop it, the phenomena refuses to go away because there are not enough law enforcement agents to enforce it.
To help solve this problem, I will like to suggest that the government encourage motorist to use their camera phones to take photographs of such offending motorist and send them in to the motor licensing office, where the offenders will be made to pay the appropriate fine whenever they are renewing their the vehicle particulars or their cars are impounded for other traffic offences.
Such an initiative will in effect place the watchful eye of the government on all streets in the state, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, as the offending driver will never know who might be taking and sending in their photographs, whether from the front or the rear.
Others
On another front, I will like to suggest that the state government consider establishing an agency that will be charged with actively encouraging the population to send in ideas such as the above.
The agency will also be charged with following-up on the appropriate government agency to see to the actualization of all the practical ideas they receive.
To actively encourage the process, the state can easily pay a monthly prizes of up to N500,000 for top ideas, and consolation prices of N200,000, N100,000 and N50,000, such that with a budget of N12million the state will place in a position where it is constantly tapping the ideas of its over 4 million inhabitants.
History has shown time and time again that ground breaking ideas and answers to the challenges that plague society usually come from people that are totally unrelated to the particular line of business.
See example in the excerpt below:
As Eli Whitney left New England and headed South in 1792, he had no idea that within the next seven months he would invent a machine that would profoundly alter the course of American history. A recent graduate of Yale, Whitney had given some thought to becoming a lawyer. But, like many college graduates of today, he had debts to repay first and needed a job. Reluctantly, he left his native Massachusetts to assume the position of private tutor on a plantation in Georgia.
In hopes of making a patentable machine, Whitney put aside his plans to study law and instead tinkered throughout the winter and spring in a secret workshop provided by Catherine Greene. Within months he created the cotton gin. A small gin could be hand-cranked; larger versions could be harnessed to a horse or driven by water power. "One man and a horse will do more than fifty men with the old machines," wrote Whitney to his father. . . . "
Though Otis is often called the inventor of the elevator, he initially contributed only one major innovation to elevator design. But that innovation was significant enough to make him, in effect, the father of the passenger elevator. Vermont-born Otis was working in a furniture factory when he was asked to design a machine for lifting lumber and other materials from floor to floor. Otis's invention made its debut at the 1853 Crystal Palace Exposition in New York, where it was billed as "An elevator, or machine for hoisting goods."
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While commending these moves, I will like to suggest a few measures that can help complement the ongoing effort. In addition to been inexpensive, the measures can be implemented immediately, and society at large can begin to benefit from them right away, unlike the large projects that span several months and sometime years.
1. A significant proportion of the traffic congestion on our roads can be traced to the rough patches and pot holes on the roads. Several of these start out as little holes/depression on the road, which when unattended to, expand into grapping holes that cause major traffic congestions.
To help solve this problem, I will like to suggest that the state government designate a number of approved civil engineering firms for each Local Government Area in the state. Residents or business organization in a particular locality can take competitive bids form and engage such firms to fix pot holes / rough patches in their neighborhood while the holes are still small and inexpensive to repair. This will be a marked improvement over the present practice where everyone watches while small holes / patches enlarge until they render the entire road unmotorable and the repair cost become so enormous, that only the government can handle it.
The above could be expanded to a scheme wherein the state and local government will stand ready to provide match fund to neighborhoods that can raise 50% of the cost of tarring its local road.
2. There are a several spots around the state where minor re-constructions or re-organisations can help reduce the traffic grid lock presently been experienced at those particular locations.
articleadslinks
The following are a few examples:
There is usually a gridlock of the traffic coming down from the 3rd Mainland bridge and those from Awolowo Road at the Onikan roundabout.
A reduction in the size/circumference of the roundabout at Onikan would allow for 2/3 vehicle to negotiate the roundabout at the same time and go a long way in easing the flow of traffic at that major intersection.
The Mobil filling station at Maryland is another spot where there is always a traffic gridlock. The problem there is caused by the shift of the bus stop from its designated place in front of the Heliport to the front of Mobil filling station. A return of the bus stop to its proper place will ease the constriction of the lanes and similarly help ease traffic at that junction.
In addition to the spots identified above, the state government can challenge every LSTMA official to be on a continual lookout for opportunities where inexpensive tinkering with the existing arrangements can help ease up congestion, by making this a important aspect of their annual job appraisal.
3. The menace of one way driving is another contributor to the traffic congestion in the city, and notwithstanding the various effort of the government to stop it, the phenomena refuses to go away because there are not enough law enforcement agents to enforce it.
To help solve this problem, I will like to suggest that the government encourage motorist to use their camera phones to take photographs of such offending motorist and send them in to the motor licensing office, where the offenders will be made to pay the appropriate fine whenever they are renewing their the vehicle particulars or their cars are impounded for other traffic offences.
Such an initiative will in effect place the watchful eye of the government on all streets in the state, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, as the offending driver will never know who might be taking and sending in their photographs, whether from the front or the rear.
Others
On another front, I will like to suggest that the state government consider establishing an agency that will be charged with actively encouraging the population to send in ideas such as the above.
The agency will also be charged with following-up on the appropriate government agency to see to the actualization of all the practical ideas they receive.
To actively encourage the process, the state can easily pay a monthly prizes of up to N500,000 for top ideas, and consolation prices of N200,000, N100,000 and N50,000, such that with a budget of N12million the state will place in a position where it is constantly tapping the ideas of its over 4 million inhabitants.
History has shown time and time again that ground breaking ideas and answers to the challenges that plague society usually come from people that are totally unrelated to the particular line of business.
See example in the excerpt below:
As Eli Whitney left New England and headed South in 1792, he had no idea that within the next seven months he would invent a machine that would profoundly alter the course of American history. A recent graduate of Yale, Whitney had given some thought to becoming a lawyer. But, like many college graduates of today, he had debts to repay first and needed a job. Reluctantly, he left his native Massachusetts to assume the position of private tutor on a plantation in Georgia.
In hopes of making a patentable machine, Whitney put aside his plans to study law and instead tinkered throughout the winter and spring in a secret workshop provided by Catherine Greene. Within months he created the cotton gin. A small gin could be hand-cranked; larger versions could be harnessed to a horse or driven by water power. "One man and a horse will do more than fifty men with the old machines," wrote Whitney to his father. . . . "
Though Otis is often called the inventor of the elevator, he initially contributed only one major innovation to elevator design. But that innovation was significant enough to make him, in effect, the father of the passenger elevator. Vermont-born Otis was working in a furniture factory when he was asked to design a machine for lifting lumber and other materials from floor to floor. Otis's invention made its debut at the 1853 Crystal Palace Exposition in New York, where it was billed as "An elevator, or machine for hoisting goods."
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