Arsenal’s Victory Highlights the Need for Improved Road Safety

Road Safety

The streets of Lagos, Abuja, Accra, Johannesburg, Paris, London and major cities around the world erupted on Tuesday 19 May 2026. I could not reach the popular lounges in Abuja’s Federal Capital Territory to celebrate with the Gunners family, so I chose the inner corner of my room to pray, thank God, and quietly scream, mindful of the peace and comfort of my neighbors.

In London, the streets were also ablaze with red and white as supporters flooded the Emirates Stadium. Horns blared, flags fluttered from car windows, but there were no red carpets or glass clinking. Fans of all backgrounds sang and danced into the night as Arsenal Football Club finally lifted the English Premier League trophy after years of waiting, setting new club records that surpassed the yet‑to‑be‑broken Invincibles record.

The victory was emotional for me and many others. It spread through people like wildfire, making strangers and even critics hug, dance, scream, and sometimes forget caution. Legendary Thierry Henry, Ian Wright, Arsène Wenger, and other Arsenal greats could not hold back their tears after years of hate, mockery, and banter.

Even former players now working elsewhere, such as Granit Xhaka and Mahamoud El Neny, could not hold back. My tears came hours after the win, prompted by my son—an avid Manchester United fan—who described the triumph as “unfortunate.” In the spirit of celebration, caution was tossed to the wind, and that is precisely where my road‑safety lesson for today begins.

Football or any sporting victory and road‑safety behaviour are like twins; they share common traits. Both are decided by discipline, patience, teamwork, and respect for the rules. Arsenal did not win merely because the players knew how to attack; they won because they knew when to slow down, defend, maintain formation, and avoid reckless decisions such as a red card, which slowed them down last year but not this year. They knew when to pick up the pieces, as they did after the defeat to Manchester City, our albatross for three seasons.

Driving behind the wheel is no different. Many drivers approach the highway like a desperate, inexperienced, selfish striker with an agenda to score every minute. They overtake blindly at bends and hills, jump red lights—a focus of mine over the last two weeks—and ignore rules in built‑up areas, speeding through crowded streets as if every journey is a cup final. They forget that hospital wards, mortuaries, and graveyards are filled with drivers and innocent commuters who hurried to arrive earlier but ended “late.”

To be an Arsenal fan, one must be made of steel: patient, enduring, passionate about the game, and trusting the project, according to our beloved coach, Mikel Arteta. But if Arsenal’s victory after years of near misses and mockery teaches anything about life and road safety, it is the importance of consistency in reasonable speed and adherence to all rules, which defeats recklessness.

The football season is long, like driving that could take hours depending on your destination. For football, there are thirty‑eight matches—home and away. In the Premier League, you sometimes play with only two days’ rest before the next match, especially if you have another competition in sight, such as the UEFA Champions League, where Arsenal have qualified for the final against Paris Saint‑Germain as the only undefeated team.

Being league champion is not about a team that plays wildly, collects red cards, and brags weekly. Three seasons ago, we were almost that kind of team—entertaining with no bench. But we learned that the champion team manages risk, injuries, red and yellow cards, and understands that losing concentration for ten minutes can destroy days, weeks, or months of hard work. The team that understands that losing requires getting up was the message from Declan Rice after the Manchester defeat, when he announced to colleagues and spectators that “it is not over.”

On our roads, a few seconds of reckless driving can result in avoidable deaths, injuries, and damages—ultimately seven feet below. During this coming Sallah celebration, we will see the same dangerous driving patterns that appeared during past Sallah, Easter, Christmas, and New Year celebrations.

In fact, during all festivities, excited but uninformed celebrants mount motorcycles without helmets, drivers race through streets and major highways with horns blaring, forgetting that speed kills. You would see young men hanging on moving vehicles while alcohol intake drives marketers and manufacturers to the bank, smiling and counting their gains. Festivities meant to promote sobriety and reflection instead increase intoxication, turning celebration into weeping, gnashing of teeth, and mourning.

Before every festivity, the Federal Road Safety Corps patrols streets and parks with advocacy and public enlightenment campaigns, warning and counselling against irresponsible driving. Some listen but do not obey. Others mock the messages, claiming they have heard enough, yet some end up celebrating their last Sallah or Christmas.

A handful of road users treat the Corps’ advocacy as a waste of time. They feel they know enough, bragging about trusting a God who is a master strategist in compliance with rules. They forget that safe driving requires shared responsibility at all times, not just when Marshals are cited on the road.

It reminds me of my pastor friend who was recently arrested for one‑way driving and paid a sixty‑thousand‑naira fine into government coffers. So why do we treat seat belts as decorative accessories? Why is common‑sense speed difficult to obey? Why do we perform James Bond stunts just to show off?

Do you know what being skilled means? Skilled drivers do not show off. They do not weave through traffic at dangerous speeds. Their focus is safety—day or night, rain or shine, daily, weekly, yearly. They do not think that accelerating is wisdom. They know that it is pure foolishness that can cost you your precious life.

Please consider Arsenal and their thirty‑eight games—sometimes boring, sometimes entertaining, always tactical, with the goal of bagging the three points that matters. You may not like us. You may hate us. You may say we don’t deserve the trophy, but the truth is that on Sunday 31 May 2026, the victory dance and songs will usher the Premier League champion.

Meanwhile, teams whose players charged forward recklessly, entertained, and wished us bad luck were beaten through counter‑attacks. If you doubt me, ask Everton Football Club, who were so desperate to equalize against Arsenal that their goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, and all defenders crowded Arsenal’s eighteen‑yard box, allowing sixteen‑year‑old Max Dowman to make history by scoring a vital goal for Arsenal. Everton’s albatross in that match was leaving their defense exposed.