Lagos: 2 injured as commercial bus rams into private car

From Oluseye Ojo

A young lady sustained multiple serious injuries, and a woman suffered fractured legs on Tuesday, May 27, following an auto crash involving two vehicles around Iyana-Oworo, by Olopomeji inward Car Wash in Lagos.

The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) confirmed the incident.

Preliminary investigations by LASTMA revealed that the crash was caused by a white commercial Toyota Hiace bus, registration number LSR 701 EF, which was overloaded and driven at excessive speed. The vehicle reportedly suffered sudden brake failure and rammed into a private car ahead of it, causing extensive damage to the bus and severe distress to two passengers.

LASTMA officials promptly arrived at the scene, provided emergency assistance, and evacuated the two seriously injured passengers. They were handed over to the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), which transported them to a nearby medical facility for urgent treatment.

Officers from the Alonge Police Division provided security reinforcement, ensuring crowd control and safety at the crash site, while LASTMA operatives cleared the wreckage and removed all involved vehicles to restore traffic flow.

The General Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Olalekan Bakare-Oki, in a press statement issued by the agency’s Director of Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, Adebayo Taofiq, condemned the increasing trend of over-speeding and disregard for traffic safety protocols among commercial drivers. He emphasised the importance of complying with the state government’s mandatory speed-limiting devices installed in commercial vehicles to curb road carnage and safeguard lives.

“We must collectively recognise that road safety is a shared responsibility. The installation of speed limiters is a deliberate policy to ensure that drivers operate within safe speed thresholds. This tragic incident might have been prevented had such regulations been followed,” Bakare-Oki stated.