In Lagos today, incessant traffic, road hazards, traffic violations, and disregard for the lives and property of other road users are common. Avoidable traffic violations have caused many fatal accidents. This is why the Whistle app was born.

Whistle is the first and only app that helps citizens validate vehicle paperwork, escalate accidents and traffic disruptions, and report traffic violations – and pays them for reporting.

With the Whistle app, users are able to:

• Report dangerous vehicles and dangerous driving
• Report traffic congestion and get the appropriate authorities to clear bottlenecks
• Report accidents to secure aid for accident victims and ensure the road is clear for smooth traffic
• Flag vehicles driving with expired paperwork and instantly notify authorities to issue fines where applicable

The first app of its kind in Civic Tech, part of what makes Whistle unique is that it has an integrated virtual wallet that houses the rewards users or Whistlers receive for sending in reports. This means that for reporting a vehicle without valid papers, for instance, the Whistler will earn a share of the fines paid by the erring road user.

Every report submitted by a Whistler is backed by picture or video evidence which is seamlessly escalated to the appropriate authorities to provide a swift resolution. Any Nigerian will be able to quickly alert the authorities to vehicles that are likely to cause carnage on the roads. The submissions will automatically provide the responding officers with the precise location of the dangerous vehicle. Alerts for traffic congestion and will work in a similar fashion.

The strength of the app lies in crowdsourced information, connecting the citizens with the law enforcement agencies that will ensure sanity is restored to the roads.

The Whistle app is currently only available on Google Play store (download here), although the iOS version still in the works.