When A Traffic Offence Becomes a Mental Health Diagnosis

The Lagos State Government on Monday announced a controversial new directive: motorists caught driving against traffic, commonly referred to as “one-way” will now be subjected to compulsory psychiatric evaluations.

According to the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), the policy is a part of a “multi-faceted approach to restore road discipline, ensure public safety, and maintain order on Lagos roads.” The agency insists that the initiative is meant to be preventive and rehabilitative rather than punitive.

“The enforcement of psychiatric assessments is not intended to stigmatize or punish,” said LASTMA General Manager, Mr. Olalekan Bakare-Oki. “It reflects global best practices in advanced traffic psychology and behavioral enforcement.”

While the measure is being presented as a strategy to restore road discipline and promote public safety, it not only potentially stigmatizes mental health victims, but is also another anti-people policy of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu government as the policy is both ethically questionable and socially damaging. It promotes a harmful narrative by linking disobedience of traffic rules with mental illness. Mandating psychiatric evaluation for offenders, the government runs the risk of further marginalizing individuals with mental health conditions and entrenching public misunderstanding of mental illness.

“This policy is as anti-people as it is deeply problematic and stigmatizing,” said a behavioral health expert based in Lagos. “It wrongly associates traffic violations with psychological instability, which is neither evidence-based nor helpful. Instead of investing in real behavioral interventions, the government is choosing a route that scapegoats mental health.”

Globally, there is increasing recognition of the importance of behavioral science in shaping public compliance with traffic laws. Evidence-based interventions such as targeted public education campaigns, behaviorally-informed signage, better road infrastructure, and smart surveillance systems have proven effective in cities dealing with similar traffic challenges. However, Lagos’ approach appears regressive, conflating deviance with mental illness in a way that could reinforce dangerous stereotypes and undermine mental health advocacy efforts.

This directive is yet another example of the Lagos State Government’s long-standing pattern of anti-people, exclusionary, and punitive governance, with the potential of particularly targeting the urban poor and socially marginalized. Another instance of this is how time and again, the state has carried out brutal demolitions of informal settlements across the city, frequently without warning, compensation, or plans for relocation. These forced evictions have displaced tens of thousands, deepening poverty and driving many into homelessness.

Worse still, homelessness in Lagos is effectively criminalized, trapping victims of state-led evictions in a vicious cycle where they are punished simply for being poor. The same government that destroys their homes turns around to penalize them for sleeping on the streets. Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned these actions as blatant violations of the right to housing and due process. Though the state often justifies these evictions in the name of infrastructure and urban development, the reality is that such projects consistently come at the direct expense of low-income communities. Markets, homes, and informal businesses are cleared to make way for highways, rail lines, and upscale real estate, yet those affected are rarely consulted or compensated. What is destroyed is not just physical shelter, but the livelihoods, networks, and dignity of people who already have the least.

The psychiatric testing directive, though aimed at solving reckless driving, which is a legitimate problem, still fails in part to solve the problem, and the solution lies in inclusive and humane approaches to public administration instead of the top-down measures that Lagos state often reaches for, which criminalize poverty and disobedience.

This is not the first time a government policy targeting car owners has drawn such criticism. In 2022, the Lagos State Government held a public auction at the Task Force Yard in Ikeja, where it sold off hundreds of abandoned and forfeited vehicles. Among them were cars belonging to drivers who had violated traffic rules and failed to reclaim their vehicles within the stipulated period. The auction triggered outrage, with citizens describing it as overly punitive, riddled with irregularities, and insensitive to the economic realities of ordinary Lagosians. Many argued that the auction disproportionately affected low-income drivers who lacked the means to retrieve their impounded vehicles in time.

In light of this history, Lagos State Government should reconsider its latest directive and adopt alternative, evidence-based interventions rooted in behavioral science. Public education campaigns, improved urban planning, enhanced road signage, and effective traffic enforcement tools could all serve the intended purpose of reducing traffic violations without infringing on human dignity or perpetuating harmful mental health stereotypes.

Lagos is a megacity with complex challenges, but heavy-handed policies that stigmatize, displace, or criminalize its residents are unlikely to create the order and safety the government seeks. A sustainable solution lies in governance that is inclusive, transparent, and grounded in empathy and evidence, rather than scapegoating or spectacle.