Deborah Akinyosoye
An overturned truck on Otedola Bridge in the early hours of Friday brought traffic on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway to a standstill, forcing motorists heading into Lagos to seek alternative routes as congestion stretched back to the Berger axis.
The crash occurred inward Lagos, where a fully loaded truck toppled and spilled its consignments across about 90 per cent of the carriageway. The Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command confirmed in a Facebook post that a second accident occurred directly behind the first, compounding the disruption.
“Two serious accidents have occurred at Otedola Bridge, inward Lagos,” the police said, adding that emergency responders had been alerted and advising motorists to exercise caution.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) also confirmed the incidents. Its spokesperson, Adebayo Taofiq, said in a telephone interview that officers were deployed to the scene for rescue operations and traffic control.
The latest crash adds to a pattern of frequent accidents on the bridge. Two weeks earlier, a mini-truck carrying tomatoes reportedly lost control due to brake failure on the same stretch around noon, colliding with vehicles but recording no fatalities as a family narrowly escaped. Eyewitnesses said the truck veered off its lane and slammed into moving vehicles.
Otedola Bridge has repeatedly been identified as an accident-prone corridor, often linked to brake failures, speeding and truck mishaps. Past incidents have included tanker explosions, falling containers and multi-vehicle collisions. Last year, a fatal crash involving a truck and an Audi killed three family members, while in April a vehicle fell off the bridge, leaving the driver seriously injured.
In December, a multi-vehicle collision near the Secretariat towards Otedola Bridge claimed the lives of a father, mother and their young child, with two others injured. LASTMA said preliminary investigations indicated that a heavily loaded truck travelling at excessive speed struck a vehicle from the rear, triggering a chain reaction.
Emergency agencies, including the Federal Road Safety Corps, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASAMBUS, SEHMU and the Lagos Fire and Rescue Service, were involved in rescue and recovery operations.
LASTMA General Manager, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, had at the time urged drivers of articulated and heavily loaded vehicles to adhere strictly to speed limits and defensive driving practices, warning that reckless driving remains a major contributor to road fatalities.
