अबुसे ऑफ़ SIREN

SIREN ABUSE

There is this tale we were told in my village of a young boy who always raised false alarms of a leopard attacking him and when villagers rushed out for his help he would laughed them to scorn for their gullibility. But the day a leopard actually devoured him there was no help as the villagers were sick of his false alarms. Daily in every city, town and even village Nigerians are being harassed by deafening blaring of sirens by various individuals, organizations and corporate bodies. Most times the security agents on these convoys used horse whips on hapless motorists. They sometimes stopped and beat daylight out of any motorist that hindered their movements or whose vehicles they scratched.

Nigerians have developed the attitude of these villagers in the tale who refused to respond to a distress call because they have been deceived so many times by wailing sirens. They no longer give way to emergency vehicles where there is a real emergency. Most pitiable and worrisome is when government convoys want other motorists to give them free passage at bad spots that dotted almost all the highways in the country. Those in the convoy in the first place have the responsibility to keep our roads motorable but when they reached such a bad spot and the attendant slow traffic they want other motorists to leave the way for them.

Despite repeated warning by the Nigeria Police Force this practice is thriving. Everyone now has a convoy all fitted with siren: from the student union leaders in our tertiary institutions to the councilor representing my ward. You need to see the glee on the faces of those in these convoys or siren blaring vehicles as the brushed aside their less fortunate countrymen. Moving about with siren is now a mark of achievement, it confers an air of importance, power and authority on those in such vehicles; even Okada riders do have sirens in their motorcycles.

A bullion van driver who went to visit his girlfriend and overstayed would put on his vehicle siren to clear the traffic for him to get to his office. An ambulance driver who went to drop his wife in the market or his boss children in school would put on his siren for traffic to give way to him. A driver in a governor’s convoy, who is on his private business or running an errand, like to get a fast food for a government official, put on siren to clear road for himself. Should any official vehicle or bullion van fitted with siren that is not on emergency put on his siren? Should an ambulance that is not carrying patients that need urgent medical attention use siren?

The manner we use siren in this country is absurd. It is an abuse of a facility which should only be use during emergency to safe life and property. What is the essence of the police van using siren in the night when there is little or no traffic especially when they are responding to a distress call of armed robbery? Won’t the siren alert the robbers to escape or is it a signal from the police to the robbers to run before they get to the scene of crime as they are not coming there to foil the robbery but to fulfill all righteousness of responding to a distress call?

This abuse has created a culture in Nigeria where people have no regard for sirens. In saner society the piercing sound of a siren is an announcement that there is an emergency and motorists and other road users should give way to the emergency or rescue team to get to the scene of an incident. It is pitiable that because of this attitude motorists even refuse to give way to fire service trucks racing to a fire scene because they assume it is one of those sirens to intimidate other road users. The fire trucks would now have to struggle for space with other vehicles instead of having a free passage to get to a fire scene to save lives and property.

Also associated with the abuse of siren is the reckless driving by convoys of president, governors and other public officials. Because they are passing on our highways, should other lesser mortals not pass? Why not construct designated roads solely for these official vehicles to ply? Or in alternative whenever our government officials want to pass through any highway such routes should be closed to other motorists as was the practice during the military era.

Dangerous driving by government convoys has brought untimely deaths to many Nigerians and untold hardship, suffering and sorrow to many families. Dangerous driving should be discouraged and those who violate the national speed limit must be punish whether they are government officials or not except in rare cases to safe life and property. Government convoys and vehicles as well as bullion vans and ambulances are in the habit of driving against traffic at the slightest traffic hold up, even when there is no emergency. They just want to show how powerful they are, the Nigerian way. And this is unacceptable.

The problem with Nigeria is that those who make laws and those who are suppose to enforce these laws are always the worst offenders. They show total disregard for the law they make or are suppose to enforce. They assumed that they are above the law. But we are told that no one is above the law. I use to know a driver that was working with a federal agency and he was so reckless and will be threatening other motorists “enter and I will kill you”. His confidence was that his organization was one of the parastatals that reports to the presidency so invariably he works with the presidency and there was nothing any police or road safety official can do to him. And in most cases he got away with his recklessness and this emboldened him and makes him more daring and care less about other road users.

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) says our national speed limit is 100 kilometer per hour but the speed by these government convoy and bullion vans are in most cases above 160 kilometer per hour. Do we have two laws? How do we expect Nigerians to be law abiding when those making the laws and the enforcers are not walking the talk, as they say?

The relevant agencies should check the issues of abuse of siren and dangerous driving on our roads. Government officials should depart for their various places of appointments in time and not wait until it is late before they embark on reckless driving under the guise of trying to meet time or keep an appointment. Government drivers who engage in reckless driving should be penalized while abusers of siren should also face the law. We should not only make laws but should enforce it. Speed, they say kills, and it can kill anybody whether a passenger in a government convoy or a passerby along our highways. Our leaders should strive to leave by example. God help Nigeria.

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