Chigozie Chikere, a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), Nigeria, wants the federal government to urgently consider the danger of falling freight containers.
On June 25, the Africa 2014 Summit for Vehicle Inspection and Road Safety Officers will begin in Calabar. For the past three months, since the rains became intense in Lagos, motorists and pedestrians alike have witnessed an unprecedented rise in the number of freight containers and container-laden trucks which fall on a daily basis on the roads, especially the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC and other road traffic management agencies have continued to blame road incidents on bad roads and human error. But when a freight container slips off the flatbed of a freight truck possibly on a bad spot on the road, and as usual, crushes commuters to death is a sign that the factors extend to something much more sinister. It puts the roadworthiness of the trucks in question.