In recent times, several urban centres are faced with traffic problems such as road mishaps and gridlocks when they experience unanticipated growth. This could be due to poor infrastructure and substandard traffic policies and the effects on those commuting educational or job reasons could range from physical and mental exhaustion on the one hand and dropping out of school on the other.
One of the main reasons these urban regions witness the aforementioned problems is defective infrastructural policies. In other words, many of them lack basic amenities such as motorable roads, reliable transportation systems and others required to support a rise in population, an inevitable result of urban development. Lagos State, Nigeria is a relevant case in point. Based on recent data, the state enjoyed a sudden economic development in 2022. However, it remains the leading urban centre in the country in terms of gridlock and this is due to the poor town planning programs in the state.
The effects of the above-listed problems on students and workers are wholly detrimental. The latter, having spent hours on the road due to traffic congestion would resume late at work. This is often in addition to physical and emotional fatigue from the gruelling journeys, all contributing to diminishing productivity at work. The experience of students could be worse as a considerable number of them may report late to lectures and examination halls and eventually have to spend extra years in schools and in some instances, expelled from schools for not meeting set criteria to retain their studentship. These and many more are the untoward effects of poor transportation policies on the citizens of major towns that experience unexpected growth.
To conclude, metropolises that witness sudden growth usually face traffic issues because of poor town planning schemes. Commuters could suffer diminished work productivity and poor school attendance.