At least 69 people lost their lives in road accidents across Lagos State within the first quarter of 2026, highlighting growing concerns over safety on the state’s busy highways.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) disclosed that a further 246 persons sustained varying degrees of injuries during the same period, underscoring the human cost of traffic infractions and road mishaps.
General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, revealed the figures in an interview on Sunday, noting that the agency responded to more than 600 accident scenes between January and March.
Bakare-Oki said the authority also tackled widespread violations involving heavy-duty vehicles, resolving over 900 infractions linked to trucks and articulated vehicles.
He added that enforcement efforts intensified during the period, with about 4,900 physical operations carried out by personnel across the state, while technology-driven systems captured 17,942 traffic offences.
According to him, the agency remains uncompromising in its stance against violations.
“LASTMA has zero tolerance for traffic infractions,” he said, adding that impounded vehicles are swiftly arraigned before the Lagos State Mobile Court.
Despite the grim statistics, Bakare-Oki said the agency had recorded improvements in traffic management and response efficiency.
“For the first quarter, we have been able to improve on our service management especially ensuring that there is great improvement on the travel time of Lagos residents.
“We have done a total overhaul of all traffic equipment and recovery vehicles by ensuring that we reposition them strategically so that they can aid and improve our response time to traffic incident management.
“In terms of our personnel, we started with their training and re-orientation for better service delivery,” he stated.
The LASTMA boss further disclosed that the agency has rolled out an ambitious capacity-building programme aimed at strengthening its workforce.
“We are planning to train over 1,000 of our men, and we have started – both internal and external training.
“We engaged various consultants for external training.
“As the months unfold, we will roll out and actively engage in high-level capacity-building programmes for all our staff,” he added.
