Fashola advocates driving in Lagos without honks
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State wants less resort to horning n is campaigning for a Lagos where motorists will drive without using horn or siren on the road.
The Governor, who was present at the finals of the Be Road Friendly competition held for schools, pointed out that horns are hardly used in Europe and that similar situation can be achieved in Lagos.
The Governor spoke at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa, venue of the Fifth anniversary of the Be Road Friendly Competition (BRF), noting that the programme was not just a competition but represents the best infrastructure that the state could build.
He noted that whilst the government could build halls, bridges and highways, such infrastructure don't save lives themselves as only committed and reformed people would put them to work.
'Getting the mind of the people ready is the hardest job any government can have. I call it building infrastructure of the mind. It is the toughest to build. It is persuasion and consensus building that it is possible, let us do it', he stressed.
Fashola asked people to visualize the possibility of driving in Lagos without the indiscriminate blaring of horns from anywhere, adding that in Europe, he has experienced over 10 days without horns on the highways when he travelled.
He stressed that it was a matter of what the people decide to do, because the refusal to use a horn by motorists at any particular time would not prevent him from reaching his destination.
'Anybody who says something is impossible is only making an excuse for not trying. They once said we cannot have streetlights at night in Lagos but we now have it. They also said that we cannot have traffic lights and that Lagosians would not obey them, but everything that they said is impossible is now possible.
'When I assumed office, no one believed a public office holder could operate without using siren but I have demonstrated that it is possible. Seven years after, I have not used siren. It is possible for us to have a horn free day, a horn free month, a horn free year and possibly a horn free state', he added.
He commended the men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) for the job they are doing, adding that if there was any change in the mindset of the children, it was the LASTMA operatives who have been training them that should get the credit.
Be Road Friendly Competition is a School Traffic Safety Advocacy programme designed as a competition among school children to create awareness about responsibility on the roads.
The competition was won by a team which comprised of six pupils from different schools, whose theme was safety on the roads which they backed up with graphic illustrations.
The event was attended by members of the State Executive Council including the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Special Duties, Dr Deremi Desalu and Transportation, Mr Oluseyi Coker as well as pupils and teachers from the participating schools in the state.