The Lagos State Government has arraigned eight persons for violating traffic laws, as part of efforts to ensure sanity on roads across the state.

The defendants were arrested by men of the Lagos State Task Force for driving against traffic and obstructing other road users.

They were brought before Magistrate Amos Olajuwon of the State’s Special Offences Mobile Court on Thursday.

The offence was said to be contrary to the provisions of the Lagos State Road Traffic Law of Lagos 2012.

While seven of them pleaded not guilty, one pleaded guilty and the court ordered that his vehicle be forfeited to the state government.

The Mobile Court consequently fixed December 7 for the trial of the others.

Head of Public Affairs Unit, Lagos State Task Force, Mr Adebayo Taofiq, told Channels Television that the court’s ruling would serve as a deterrent to others.

“What the Lagos State Government has demonstrated is just to enlighten members of the public and let them know that the government is very serious with the enforcement of the Lagos State Road Traffic Law of 2012, particularly that of the section that goes against driving against traffic in the state,” he said.

Mr Taofiq, who said the defendants were picked up along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway on Wednesday, added that there have been series of complaints about motorists driving against traffic along the highway.

He, however, warned that the task force would stop at nothing to impound vehicles found either driving against traffic or flouting any traffic rule in the state.

The task force, made up of personnel of the police and other paramilitary agencies, was set up in 1999 to enforce environmental and traffic rules in the state.