Ambulance collides with motorcyclist, injures rider, pregnant woman

By Evelyn Usman

A delivery motorcyclist suffered a severe leg fracture yesterday after a private ambulance conveying a pregnant woman on oxygen support drove against traffic and collided with him on the Odo Iya-Alaro Bridge, inward Maryland, along the Ikorodu Road corridor in Lagos.

The pregnant woman said to have also been injured, was rushed to the hospital in another vehicle.
Preliminary investigation at the scene, according to the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), revealed that a truck had earlier gone up in flames at the same location, causing a major disruption to the free flow of traffic.

The driver of the ambulance, with plate number BED 508 EA, which was conveying the pregnant woman, was said to have driven against traffic, colliding with the dispatch rider who was on his proper lane.

LASTMA’s Director of Public Affairs, Adebayo Taofiq, said, “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 driver of the private ambulance was apprehended on-site by LASTMA officials and subsequently handed over to operatives of the Ogudu Police Division for comprehensive interrogation and prosecution in accordance with extant laws.

“LASTMA personnel further effected the safe removal of both the accident-damaged ambulance and the wrecked delivery motorcycle, thereafter transferring the vehicles to the Ogudu Police Division.

Throughout the rescue effort, police operatives provided sustained security reinforcement, ensuring seamless emergency operations.”

General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, reaffirmed the agency’s uncompromising zero-tolerance posture towards the dangerous and unlawful act of driving against traffic. He urged ambulance operators and all emergency service drivers to adhere strictly to safety protocols, particularly when conveying medically fragile patients, to avert avoidable tragedies on Lagos roads”.

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