Underage drivers: Reckless driving, dangerous living

 
It is not uncommon to see underage people driving commercial vehicles on Lagos roads. In this report, ARUKAINO UMUKORO examines the practice

Dark, skinny, with a streetwise glint evident in his eyes, the 18-year-old, who simply gave his name as Demola, said he would have become a motor mechanic if he had not chosen to become a motor park attendant.

Over the last few months, Demola, who recently moved to Lagos from Ore, Ondo State, seemed to have raised the bar of his ambitions. With barely less than a year of driving experience, he now drives a commercial bus.

“My first experience driving a commercial bus was enjoyable. I had no problems because I like driving. I felt good about it. In Ore, where I started as a motor park boy, I drove the commercial bus more frequently. Although my hand is not very strong on the wheels, my oga used to give me the bus to drive sometimes here in Lagos. I hope I can drive more often. I ensure that I drive very carefully and at reduced speed whenever I am on the road,” he told our correspondent that early morning in Ketu, Alapere, as the motor park woke up to New Year’s Day.

When asked if he was not afraid of accidents, considering his limited experience, Demola, who refused all overtures to take his photograph, laughed. “I’m always careful. But then, even individuals driving their own private vehicles also have accidents, although one doesn’t pray for it,” he said.

Early this year, the Federal Road Safety Corps put the minimum age of commercial drivers- of buses, trucks and taxis, at 26. However, Demola said driving provides him with a means of livelihood. It is the same for many other young Nigerians like him, mostly teenagers or in their early 20s, with little or no education.

In Agege, Soley Ibrahim, in his early 20s, was relaxing in one of the buses when our correspondent met him that morning. He has been driving since he was a teenager. Although he honed his driving skills by first driving a commercial bus within Lagos, the chubby-cheeked Ibrahim has ‘graduated’ to driving commercial buses within and outside Lagos. “I’ve driven to places such as Sagamu, Onitsha, Ibadan, Abuja, and other parts of Nigeria,” he said.

On how he is able to avoid traffic officials as a teenage driver, Ibrahim simply said, “I just manoeuvre my way out.” He says sometimes his bulky frame helps him on the road, because it confers on him the appearance of being older. “At other times, they (road officials) don’t even bother me,” he added.

Twenty-two-year-old Ope, who also drives a commercial bus, couldn’t be bothered about being stopped on the road for his age. “You know how it works in the country, there is always a way of handling these things. Sometimes, we argue with them and wriggle our way out, most times, we give money and they let us go, there is no problem. I have been driving for five years now,” he said.

Getting a licence is not a problem for them, he added. Sometimes, they even operate without valid licences and pay their way out of the hands of road officials when their driving particulars are suspected. The duo, like Demola, didnt agree to be photographed.

Like Demola, Ibrahim, and Ope, there are many other young, under-aged commercial bus drivers in Lagos and other parts of the South-West, who became drivers due to passion and peer influences or poverty, lack of jobs and proper education.

In many cases, these young drivers simply graduate from being motor park boys or bus conductors to driving the bus. For those who were employed as bus conductors, the regularity of their driving experiences is based on how well they handle each opportunity they are given by their superiors.

Emmanuel Adebisi, 20, is a school- certificate holder. He decided to learn driving from his friends at the park to make ends meet. “I am yet to get a first-hand experience driving on the road, but that will be soon and I can’t wait,” he said, adding that he was not worried about any probable complaints from the passengers.

Ismaila Niyi, 19, also shared the same view. However, unlike Adebisi, he already has some experience driving commercial buses, during the period he also works as a bus conductor. “I first drove a commercial bus one and a half years ago. In terms of passengers complaining, I try not to listen to them and focus on my driving. The driver is the person in control of the vehicle, not the passengers,” he said.

Despite the FRSC age limit on driving commercial vehicles, Adebisi said he was not afraid of any road official because, as he put it, he knows his rights and already has a licence to back up his road trips.

However, Lagos State Sector Commander, FRSC, Mr. Chidi Nkwonta, said there is a difference between getting a driving licence and a commercial driver’s licence.

“A driving licence is important, but driving commercial vehicles is different. A commercial driver needs to have a graduated driving licence, because for one to become a commercial driver, one is expected to have acquired some level of experience in driving. So, ideally, commercial driving licence is a graduated driving licence. It’s like graduating from just driving to professional driving. So, if you get a driving licence at 18, at 26, you would have had a minimum of eight years of experience. That’s why we pegged it at that age. The emphasis is not really on the age, but on the experience, a commercial driver is expected to have had significant experience,” he explained.

Nkwonta also said the frequency of young drivers in recent times necessitated the introduction of the graduated driving licence. He also noted that the move was necessary for the safety of passengers on the roads and prevention of accidents.

He said, “Some of these underage drivers even drive trucks, they are small boys who don’t know their left from right, and they don’t understand or know the value of what they are driving. We know that age comes with some level of experience, and the more mature a person is, the more responsible he is expected to be. So, in order to curb the excesses of these young men, the graduated commercial driving licence was introduced. By the time we run it for one or two years, we’ll take them out.

“There are many underage drivers today and there are two factors responsible for this. For the private driver, it is a status symbol; while for the commercial one, it’s a sign of desperation, or to fend for their families. It is not only in commercial driving one finds underage people; one also finds them doing other kinds of menial jobs. But we want to ensure that commercial driving is more regulated and it is not an all-comers affair.”

The excesses of these underage drivers include over-speeding and recklessness, which often result in several accidents on the road.

“Right now, if I make like N10,000, I make sure I try to save at least half of the amount. But some of my peers who also drive commercial vehicles don’t like to work. They would rather work one day and the next day they would just sit down doing nothing and spend all their earnings on parties, women and drinking. They won’t go to work until they have finished the money they made previously,” Demola said.

Another commercial driver, who simply identified himself as Abbey, attributed the recklessness of underage drivers to their inexperience, youthful exuberance and lifestyle. “Although they are full of energy than the older ones,” he said.

Due to peer influences and the nature of their jobs, many like Demola are drawn to the living on the wild side.

To buttress the need for experience in commercial driving, Nkwonta said, “It’s not the same as finishing school and starting a job immediately. Even if a person graduates at a very young age, he or she must still go through a period of training or apprenticeship. If he wants to become a manager in a firm, he would be a trainee manager. So, a commercial drivers needs to have a professional licence. It’s not the same as finishing school and starting a job. A driver graduates from point A to B, that’s the point we’re trying to make. It’s a graduated licence,” he said, adding that there are penalties for underage driving.

“We impound the vehicle and we find whoever gave the vehicle a ticket. We punish the person who owns or gives them the vehicle, that’s the person who needs to pay the price, and in most cases it’s usually their relatives, or who owns it. I don’t have the details now, but we have such incidents daily,” he noted.

While there may be need for more awareness of this directive, some have already started their own sensitisation efforts so as not to fall victim to the law.

An official of the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers, Agege, Taiwo Raji, said young drivers are not encouraged in the park. “Drivers in our park are 26 years and above. We don’t encourage underage driving because one, they are too young to drive, two, they are inexperienced, and so may not be able to handle some situations on the road. Also, we don’t want them to fall foul of FRSC law,” he said.

Experience counts a great deal, said secretary of the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria, Mowe, Ogun State, Mr. Akeem Atewo. “It really does not matter whether a driver is young or old, but it is good for a commercial driver to have at least five to seven years experience, especially if such a driver is plying inter-state routes,” he said.

Copyright PUNCH.