Driving in Lagos is a skill learned by doing. The traffic is heavy, the rules are enforced unevenly, and the cost of a mistake can be your car being towed. Know the rules that are enforced, and carry your papers.
The papers to carry
Keep these in the car, valid, every time you drive:
Officers stop cars to check them, and expired papers are the easiest excuse for a fine or a demand.
Driver’s licence Dealing with the police
The offences that are enforced
- Driving in the BRT lane. The lanes are for the buses alone. Under the state’s transport law, using one can mean a heavy fine, the car impounded, and prosecution.
- Driving against traffic (“one-way”). Taken very seriously in Lagos: cars are impounded and drivers prosecuted.
- Using a phone while driving, and not wearing a seatbelt.
- Ignoring LASTMA officers at a junction.
LASTMA and the other uniforms
LASTMA, the state traffic agency, directs traffic and enforces state traffic law. You will also meet the Federal Road Safety Corps and the police. Be polite, keep your papers ready, and ask for an official receipt for any fine.
How the traffic works
- The “go-slow” is the rule, not the exception, at rush hour on the main routes. Plan around it; leave early or late.
- Danfos and okadas stop anywhere and pull out without warning. Leave room.
- Horns are a language: a short beep means “I am here”, not anger.
- Keep doors locked and windows up in slow traffic, and phones out of sight.
Okadas
Commercial motorcycles are banned on the highways and in many local government areas, including much of the Island and Ikeja. Where they are allowed, they are fast and dangerous.