In Case You Want to Visit South Africa, These are the Rules of the Road

[Gromit]

This would be funny if it wasn't true!​

Rules For Driving In South Africa
1. Never indicate - itgives away your next move. A real south African
driver never uses indicators.


2. Under no circumstance should you leave a safe distance between you and
the car in front of you, this space will be filled by at least 2 taxis and
a BMW, putting you in an even more dangerous situation.


3. The faster you drive through a red light, the less chance you have of
getting hit.


4. Never, ever come to a complete stop at a stop sign. No one expects it
and it will only result in you being rear-ended.


5. Braking should be as hard and late as possible to ensure that your ABS
kicks in, giving you a nice, relaxing foot massage as the brake pedal
pulsates. For those of you without ABS, it's a chance to stretch your legs.


6. Never pass on the right when you can pass on the left. It's a good way
to check if the people entering the highway are awake.


7. Speed limits are arbitrary, given only as a guideline. They are
especially NOT applicable in South Africa during rush hour. That's why it's
called 'rush hour....'


8. Just because you're in the right lane and have no room to speed up or
move over doesn't mean that the South African driver flashing his high
beams behind you doesn't think he can go faster in your spot.


9. Always slow down and rubberneck when you see an accident or even someone
changing a tyre. Never stop to help - you will be mugged.


10. Learn to swerve abruptly. South Africa is the home of the high-speed
slalom driver thanks to the government, placing holes in key locations to
test drivers' reflexes and keep them on their toes.


11. It is traditional to honk your horn at cars that don't move the instant
the light turns green. This prevents storks from building nests on top of
the traffic light and birds from making deposits on your car.


12. Remember that the goal of every South African driver is to get there
first, by whatever means necessary.


13. On average, at least three cars can still go through an intersection
after the light has turned red. It's people not adhering to this basic
principle that cause the big traffic jams during rush hour.

 

[Rocky]

Are you sure you're not talking about drivers here??
This used to be a safe and civilized place to drive, but over the last decade I've noticed the blatant disregard for stop signs, red lights and speed limits. And don't get me started on cell phone talking and texting while driving - even though it's illegal here!!!
When I'm driving in city traffic I keep one eye on the mirror as many idiots will expect you to go through a red light and speed up instead of brake.
Times, they be achangin' - and not for the better!!!

 

[CarlS]

That apples equally to Florida roads - except exchange the right and left.

 

[DaveB]

I agree with all that's written; no surprise there because I've been driving & riding these roads for over 30 years BUT,

these rules only really apply to Johannesburg, Pretoria & Durban plus their environs. The rules do not apply anywhere in the very large Cape Province (I hope DaveM doesn't disagree!). I've been down to the Cape, various parts of it, three times in the past four years and I lived in Cape Town for over a year. The Cape drivers are far less aggressive than we are up here.

Gromit, do you have the 'rules' of the road that apply solely to Jozi taxi drivers? That would be fun to add in here- y'know, stop anywhere, use the horn and the hazards incessantly, get in the RH lane of a 5-lane city street if you want to turn left, stop in intersections, reverse back down on-ramps, cardboard disc pads, coathanger brake linkages- all the normal stuff!

 

[DaveM]

Dave I must agree we are mild down this side. I lived in JHB for 8 years and most of my working days were spent in that traffic. Now if I have to go up on business I do everything possible to not drive in it at all.

 

[hemibee]

Sounds like the Houston driving code too me, except for as Carl pointed out on right vs left. The only two places in Texas that has worse drivers are the DFW area and in Austin. It scares the $#%@ out of me to drive in those two places.

 

[otherwise]

I couldn't survive in conditions like that. I ride / drive in a reasonably low traffic volume situation and if I want to go to the city I actually park at the edge and take the train in. When I want to go to a place that's the other side of the city I ride all of the way around rather than crossing it.

 

[keystiger]

Mobile Alabama and Miami Florida ---both places I have driven in a BUNCH and both take driving to a literal BLOOD SPORT level. Eyes in front and back, aggressive driving is standard if not you will get run down. MOVE or be crushed under the giant jacked up extended cab truck/van/SUV that just HAS to beat you to the next light. If you can go straight through a light and make a legal (or illegal) left turn to save sitting waiting on the arrow signal, then you are driving NORMAL around here.
I actually find it interesting to COUNT the number of people each day I see texting and driving.....80% on the way home at night. Oddly only about 50% in the morning. They are eating more than texting......or applying makeup before work. As I said blood sport. Actually it appears no place is safe. Canada Texas South Africa.......people in general just CAN'T drive it seems.

 

[Gromit]

DaveB - I think between us we could write our own book about Jozi Taxi Drivers! And I agree about the Cape - far more awareness and adherence to the traffic laws than up here in Gauteng. Another thing I notice when I'm the Cape - I do not get accosted by beggars every time I stop my car!!!

 

[DaveM]

Come to PE we have lots of those beggars here plus the normal traffic light vendors. At the one main intersection I counted over 30 of them.

 

[Gromit]

I challenge anyone from over the pond to come to Johannesburg and experience our taxi drivers and then tell me that anything is vaguely comparable. Believe me, you guys have not seen nuthin' yet! Most of the drivers are unlicensed, most of the taxis are not roadworthy at all, most of the taxi drivers carry firearms and other weapons, there are rival taxi organisations who engage in slaughtering each other on occassion, our Metro Police (traffic police) are scared of the taxi organisations and drivers.

As a comparison: More South Africans were killed/died on our roads in vehicle accidents in ONE year than US soldiers in the Iraq war! And our total population is only 49m so you can do the sums of approximately how many drivers we have on our roads.

DaveM and DaveB - please correct me here if I've got the numbers/comparison wrong.

 

[DaveM]

I will go with that

Note in this one all the vehicles coming past on the left are taxis, they are driving in the yellow lines that is an emergency lane and is a no drive zone

[video=youtube;DOlxW5HWzhU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOlxW5HWzhU[/video]

Here we have then driving down the wrong side of the road

[video=youtube;Z3cScjdWSeY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3cScjdWSeY&feature=autoplay&list=PL745F96159C851304&playnext=2[/video]

Just general driving

[video=youtube;LBTXMV9C-4s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBTXMV9C-4s[/video]

 

[DaveM]

Offroad Taxis

[video=youtube;YBGM1HpSZ_U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBGM1HpSZ_U[/video]

 

[DaveM]

You don't get better than this lot hey

 

[Gromit]

December road death toll South Africa climbs to 1232

iriam​

By Miriam Mannak
Jan 4, 2012 in World
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South Africa's total holiday road deathtoll is expected to be much higher than previously reported. The last week of December 2011 alone addedover 200 road fatalities to the list.
Earlier this week, Digital Journalreported how the first three weeks of December 2011 accounted for 1023lives and over 800 car crashes and traffic accidents.
Yesterday, the South African government released definite statisticswith regards to the country's total December death toll.
According to the figures, over 39 people a day were killed on SouthAfrica's roads in that month alone - amounting to a total of 1235 fatalities.The number of car crashes in that particular month is set at 1027.
The total number of holiday roadfatalities for is expected to grow further, as many South Africans have yet toreturn from their holidays.
The authorities added that the December2011 death toll was down from that same month the year before, when over 1300 people lost their lives in trafficaccidents.

Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/317299#ixzz23cCJfnYG
Themost common causes of the crashes during the 2011/12 festive period includespeeding in unfriendly weather conditions, reckless and inconsiderate driving, andabuse of alcohol by drivers and pedestrians,"
South African roads
Watch out!
SouthAfrica’s dreadful drivers are under scrutiny
Jan 13th 2011 | JOHANNESBURG| from the print edition



SOME of the world's most dangerous roads are SouthAfrican. Last month an average of 43 people a day (in a population of 50m) werekilled in traffic accidents, about the same as the previous December, despitean unprecedented police crackdown on errant motorists in the run-up to the peaksummer-holiday season. The government hopes to cut the total annual road-deathtoll by half by 2015, using the grim tally of 16,000 in 2007 as its benchmark.Despite the planned introduction of stricter traffic laws, it will be pushed tomeet its target.
Though it still has less than one registeredvehicle for every five inhabitants, Africa's most advanced country recorded 33road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2007, according to the World HealthOrganisation. That was double the fatality rate in America, with almost onevehicle for every inhabitant, and six times the rate in Britain, with about onevehicle for every two inhabitants. All three countries have similar road-safetylaws. Indeed, the drink-driving limit is stricter in South Africa than inBritain or America. But South Africans tend to ignore the law in theexpectation that they either will avoid detection or can bribe their way out oftrouble.
The government is keen to change such attitudes. Inthe past three months it has cracked down on road-safety villains, stopping andchecking about 4.5m drivers at random. More than 2m fines were issued, 26,000dud vehicles taken off the roads, and more than 7,000 motorists arrested fordrunk-driving and other offences—many times the normal rate. Recent research bySouth Africa's Medical Research Council showed that 61% of pedestrians and 59%of drivers killed in traffic accidents were over the legal alcohol limit.

 

[DaveM]

Funny now these stats relate back to another thread we had why we don't mind being stopped at random road blocks in this country

 

[CarlS]

Is this SA's method of population control?

 

[DaveM]

It sure looks that way

 

[CarlS]

That applies to some Latin America countries as well!

 

[Rocky]

Good Grief!!!
After reading the latest posts I guess we have it pretty good over here so I'm no longer complaining.