A commercial motorcyclist in Ekiti State has had his legs crushed alongside his passenger by a traffic control truck on Thursday.
It was gathered that a towing truck of the Ekiti State Traffic Management Agency (EKSTMA) had crushed the legs of the victims in the accident that occurred at the Dallimore Junction, behind Oluyemi Kayode Stadium.
Witnesses said the accident occurred while the traffic control truck was racing after another car, which they suggested might have driven against regulations somewhere around Ijigbo area of the town, but was trying to escape arrest.
They further claimed that the driver of the truck, “who should have applied the break while approaching a busy junction, just entered the junction, running over the motorcyclist and his passenger coming in the opposite direction.”
Some of the witnesses alleged that the driver of the traffic truck was drunk as, according to them, there were bottles of various brands of hard liquor in the truck.
But the identity of the driver could not be ascertained at press time and there was no official confirmation of the state of the driver as at the time of the accident.
A witness at the scene said: “The truck was pursuing a car from Okesa area, but he did not stop when he got to this junction. While the car entered the road, the truck followed, but while the car escaped, the truck hit an Okada rider (commercial motorcycle operator).”
One of the accident victims, who gave his name as Tosin Babalola, on his hospital bed at the State’s Teaching Hospital, said “Only God saved me and that man (referring to the commercial motorcycle operator). We were coming from Oremeta Area and suddenly, we found ourselves under the truck. The speed of the driver was just unbelievable. We were told he was pursuing a car at the time. The man has changed my journey while I was preparing for a new year.”
The motorcyclist, Popoola Christopher, urged the state government to investigate the accident and punish the truck driver, saying “the traffic agency should give me and my passenger all necessary treatment and support. We should not be abandoned.”
He said he couldn’t “understand why such a heavy vehicle would be speeding like that at such a tiny area. Why? Government must support us to get out of this. This accident must not be allowed to deform us.”
But the Chairman of Motorcycle Riders Association, Mr Dahunsi Olaniyi, told newsmen that the issues had been resolved and the victims had already been taken to the hospital.
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