- Safiu Kehinde
A private ambulance conveying a pregnant woman on oxygen support has reportedly crushed a dispatch rider along the Odo Iya-Alaro Bridge at Maryland, Lagos.
The incident, as confirmed in a statement issued by the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), occurred along the Ikorodu Road corridor in the early hours of Monday.
According to the statement, preliminary investigations revealed that the unfortunate incident was catalyzed by the residual disruptions following a truck inferno earlier in the morning at the same location.
This had led to a severe slow traffic which forced the ambulance to maneuver and took the one-way route- a decision that led to ambulance driver’s collision with the dispatch rider.
“The aftermath of the fire incident had engendered a severe slow traffic impasse along the entire Ikorodu Road axis.
“Amid the protracted slow vehicular movements, a private ambulance (BED 508 EA) conveying a pregnant woman dependent on oxygen support recklessly elected to traverse against traffic (one-way) at an imprudent and perilous speed.
“This dangerous manoeuvre culminated in a forceful collision with a delivery motorcyclist legitimately navigating his designated lane, instantly inflicting a grave and excruciating fracture to his right knee.
“In an expeditious and meticulously coordinated emergency intervention, LASTMA Officers alerted the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), which promptly deployed two ambulances to the scene.
The pregnant woman, along with her life-support apparatus, was safely transloaded into one LASAMBUS ambulance, while the second conveyed the severely injured motorcyclist to the nearest medical facility for immediate treatment.” The statement partly read.
Meanwhile, the driver of the private ambulance was apprehended on-site by LASTMA Officials and subsequently handed over to operatives of the Ogudu Police Division.
LASTMA personnel further effected the safe removal of both the accident-damaged ambulance and the wrecked delivery motorcycle which were both transferred to the police station.
Reacting to the development, the General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, urged ambulance operators and all emergency service drivers to adhere strictly to safety protocols, particularly when conveying medically fragile patients, so as to avert avoidable tragedies on Lagos roads.
Bakare-Oki conveyed his sincere wishes for a rapid and complete recuperation to both the injured motorcyclist and the expectant mother, emphasizing LASTMA’s unwavering commitment to its statutory mandate of protecting lives and restoring order and civility across all transportation corridors within Lagos State.