Three dead, four injured as female learner driver runs over tricycle in Ogun

At least three persons have died while four others sustained varying degrees of life-threatening injuries after a learner driver ran over a tricycle in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State.

The accident occurred at the Maranatha axis of the Oru-Ijebu Igbo highway around 11am on Tuesday, December 19, 2023.

It was gathered that the accident involved a Toyota Camry “Muscle” car with registration number SGM 88 AE and a commercial tricycle marked TTN 117 VV shuttling between the former refugee camp in Oru-Ijebu Igbo of Ijebu North Local Government Area of the state.

The car driven by a female learner was on top speed inbound Ijebu Igbo when it lost control and collided with the tricycle, which resulted in the death of three of its passengers, while four others, who sustained life-threatening injuries were passers-by and others waiting to board vehicles to their various destinations at a bus stop in the area.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the State’s Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi, who confirmed the accident to journalists in Abeokuta, said the incident infuriated an angry mob, which visited the scene and set the Toyota Camry car ablaze as the driver and her instructor took to their heels.

Akinbiyi further revealed that attempts by the uniform personnel carrying out rescue operations to take photographs at the scene were resisted by the angry mob, who also attacked the security operatives, while the TRACE personnel were able to carry out strategic traffic control few metres away from the point of the crash to avoid traffic gridlock on the road.

The TRACE spokesman, however, stated that corpses of those who lost their lives were evacuated to a private hospital in Ago-Iwoye, where the injured victims were also rescued to for medical treatment.