Commuting in Lagos, is a major stressor.

Have you ever looked into the reason why traffic starts building up as early as 6am on the
roads in Lagos Monday through Friday? Have you ever wondered why some people leave
their houses as early as 4 am to get to work despite their resumption time starting at 8am?
About a 4hours difference to resumption time. No other reason than the peculiar traffic
congestion in Lagos.

It is worthy of note that the traffic in Lagos adds stress unconsciously to one’s life.
Sometimes we wonder why we feel tired just getting into the office early in the morning
having done no official task. We keep asking questions like, where is this stress coming
from? Look no further, it is the stress accumulated from commuting longer hours on the road.
A stressor that is beginning to look inevitable since the infrastructural position of the state for
the most part is in a state of decadence.

If you ever work on the island in Lagos and you stay on the mainland, you cannot escape the
long stretch of traffic on the 3rd mainland bridge or the Alaka-Apongbon bridge. With an
average of 40mins travel time on either of the bridges linking the island and the mainland
together.  This totals to approximately 1hr 20mins daily commute to work. Some residents
that live in the Ikorodu axis of the metropolis have opted for a fairer route by exploring the
use of ferries which is faster but unsafe due to the bad conditions of the life jacket.  This
helps them to save time from the road transport and its traffic idle time. However, we cannot
shy away from the risks attached to our waterways, especially in safety. As much as this is a
faster way of commuting, a lot of citizens have concerns for the safety of their lives due to
poor maintenance of the facility.

Also, in the quest to find solutions to this commuting stress, some chose to alter their sleeping
time by waking early as possible say 3.30am and set out as early as 4.30am to get to work by
6 am and then in turn continue the sleep in the office till 8am which is resumption time. As
much as this idea seems to be widely accepted, It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul because
you deny yourself adequate sleeping time to beat the traffic on the road.

Productivity at the workplace can be optimized if we reduce or remove the stress that comes
with commuting to work within the Lagos metropolis. I have cousins who dread visiting
Lagos because of the above-mentioned reasons. The life span of your car is reduced,
depreciation moves faster than speculated, your healthy lifestyle is affected, and your eating
habit is disrupted. You are unable to give specific timing for an appointment etc. The life of a
Lagosian is incomplete without the experience of traffic congestion.  Be that as it may, we
must consciously work on the balance one way or the other else, the frequent visit to the
hospital will be inevitable.