The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), through its Traffic Management Solution (TMS) devices, captured a total of 20,000 vehicles for traffic infractions in 2024.
The offences include illegal parking, traffic obstruction, and dropping or picking of passengers at undesignated bus stops.
LASTMA introduced TMS in July 2023.
Mr Taofiq Adebayo, Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
Adebayo also said that the authority physically apprehended 16,824 vehicles for traffic infractions in 2024.
He said that 8,535 of the 16,824 vehicles were commercial vehicles.
According to Adebayo, in 2023, LASTMA physically apprehended 22,927, vehicles, 15,025 of which were commercial vehicles.
Adebayo said that the figures showed a reduction by 6,103 for physically apprehended vehicles and 6,490 for commercial vehicles.
“It showed that the enlightenment campaign of the agency yielded positive results.
“ The LASTMA General Manager, Mr Olalekan Bakare-Oki, came on board in November 2023, and by January 2024, he started with training of officers.
By December 2024, out of about 4,335 LASTMA staff, 4,305 were trained,” he said.
Adebayo told NAN that the training was on emotional intelligence, work ethics and human rights.
On fines imposed on motorists for infractions, Adebayo said that the fines were in line with the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018.
“When we apprehend a vehicle that committed an infraction, we issue a referral notice which is taken to the Lagos State Mobile Court.
“Also, before our officers apprehend such a vehicle, there would have been a substantial evidence gathered in form of video or photograph, and this is tendered at the mobile court.
“We don’t impose fines, it is the magistrate that will pronounce the fine to be paid into the government coffers,” he said.
Adebayo said that one of the aims of LASTMA’s toll-free line was to safeguard people from being manipulated into paying fines to wrong hands.
He told NAN that LASTMA dismissed, suspended and demoted erring officers.
“For the year 2024, we had 26 officers in this category, and out of this number, we had 13 that were dismissed from the job, five were demoted and eight faced suspension,” he said. (NAN)
