Oyo State government has restated its warning against reckless driving and illegal parking at clubs as well as fun spots during the night.
The warning was given just as the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Authority, (OYRTMA) impounded ten vehicles during the weekend.
The warning was issued on Sunday by the Executive Chairman of OYRTMA, Mogaji Akin Fagbemi while reacting to an incident that led to loss of a life, which was said to be caused by an individual suspected to be driving under alcohol influence at a popular club at Awolowo Way, Bodija in Ibadan.
Mogaji Fagbemi disclosed that the middle-aged man who was hit by a drunk night reveller sustained head injury and later died at a hospital close to the scene of the incident.
OYRTMA boss said that the Executive Governor of the State Engr Seyi Makinde had earlier directed agency to issue stern warning to owners of commercial buildings particularly club houses during the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown in the state.
“It is in pursuant to this warning that the authority moved to impound erring vehicles around such vicinities particularly as the authority continue to receive several public petitions and formal complaints from both motorists and residents of the areas where such centres are situated.
“Following a road crash occasioned by the illegal parking of a vehicle whose owner was reported to be patronising one of the club houses located at Awolowo Road here in Ibadan, OYRTMA in conjunction with the Special Security Joint task Force otherwise known as Operation Burst moved in to impound ten erring vehicles which have been deposited at our premises pending their legal prosecution for infringing on section 16 of the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Authority Law 2009.”
He said the victim, who was a resident of the area, was rushed to a nearby hospital after the accident around 1200hrs of Friday night, gave up the ghost because of the road blockade caused by indiscriminate parking of vehicles at the club house.
Fagbemi urged the people to ensure that they did not constitute blockade to the roads whenever they parked their vehicles so as to allow others to pass, especially in cases of emergency situations such as fire outbreaks or the need to rush a sick resident to the hospital.
He called on fun lovers and night crawlers to always seek the service of licensed drivers, as there had been several cases of midnight accidents resulting from drunk-driving by vehicle owners who investigations often revealed were coming from club houses in the midnight, who destroyed properties of other persons as well as those of government, like public utilities and streetlight poles.
“It is to this end that we reiterate that the Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration would not condone the continuity of such destructive behaviours on the roads, we shall henceforth continue to enforce relevant sections of the extant traffic laws of the state against such,” he maintained.
