The Lagos Hustle

Lagos is known as the city that never sleeps.  The day to day hustle and bustle of Lagos reflects strongly in the driving.  You are the only one whose time matters on the road.  No one else's time has any value to you.  I have been told that if you can master driving in Lagos, you can drive anywhere in the world.

Yellow buses and kekes.  The first piece of advice I received when I arrived in Lagos is not to pick a fight with the infamous yellow buses and the three-wheeled kekes.  They believe they are immortal.  No fear.  Let them have their way because they think they own the road.  They pull off to the side of the road without warning, drop off passangers, and continue to merge with oncoming traffic as if no one else could possibly be driving on the road.  But, rumor has it that the current governor of Lagos State has a masterplan to get rid of the yellow buses.

Lanes.  Lanes mean nothing in Lagos.  Wherever your car is, that is the lane.  You define the lane.  The lane does not define you.  When you reach the toll booth on the island, even if there are only four toll booths open, there must be a minimum of at least eight lanes of traffic funneling into four toll booths.  It's rather unfortunate when only one car can fit through each toll booth at a time.

Indicators.  No one uses indicators.  You can switch lanes at a moments notice, weaving in between yellow buses, lorries, motorcycles and private vehicles.  Driving in Lagos is war; you don't tell people your next move.  And chances are, if you do tell someone your next move, they will speed up and thwart your efforts.  It is better for you to protect yourself against the enemy predicting your next move by not using your indicators.

Traffic.  Lagos traffic is not a joke.  Many people live on the mainland and commute to the island for work every day (look at a map of Lagos).  A normal commute might mean two hours to work in the morning and two hours home in the evening.  Growing up in a small town, my tolerance of sitting in traffic is limited.  Thankfully, my commute between the ACSI office and my house is less than two miles, resulting in a relatively minimal commute.   However, I have attempted to move from the mainland to the island on a weekday evening, thinking I would be going against the flow of traffic.  However, much to my dismay, there is traffic everywhere.

Accidents.  Traffic is expected in a city of 21 million people, but there are other factors that cause traffic, such as accidents.  If you get into an accident, even a minor incident, you leave the vehicle parked in the exact location of the incident, even if you are blocking three lanes of traffic and have irritated drivers yelling insults out their windows as they pass you.  You try by all means to avoid calling the police by working out a solution between the two parties.   Once an agreement has been made, the vehicles can be moved off of the road.

Unforeseen circumstances.  Somehow I am supposed to constantly be on the lookout for yellow buses and kekes merging into my lane, be aware of human beings running across four lanes of traffic (when there are pedestrian bridges), be alert for motorcycles creeping into my blindspot, dodge the various street vendors selling anything from windshield wipers, to loaves of bread, to shoe racks.  On top of that, I have learned to not make the assumption that a one way road means traffic will only be going one way.