Preventing hijackings on South African roads

You can only prevent hijackings if you are alert while driving, according to Gauteng police spokesperson, Inspector Dennis Adriao.

He gave readers some tips to prevent being hijacked.

Always be alert when driving. This is especially important at night and early morning hours. Keep an eye out for suspicious looking vehicles that might be following you.

Prevent situations where hijackings might occur, since 'hijacking is an opportunistic crime' according to Adriao.

Be very careful in situations where the car needs to stop. Always look out for suspicious people before stopping your vehicle. If you see a suscpicious person and there are no other vehicles nearby, rather approach the stop street/robot slowly than making a dead stop. It is more difficult to hijack a moving vehicle. It must also be said that this does not eliminate them forcing you off the road while driving.

If you suspect that you might be hijacked, drive to a public or well lit place such as a police station or shopping centre where there are other people around.

You are also motivated to call the police if you suspect a threat such as a hijacking. Their emergency number is 10111.

Phone for help if you have abreakdown. If you simply need to change a tyre, rather drive slowly to a safe and/or crowded public place. You can rather replace the rim, but your life is irreplacable.

Do not ever threaten hijackers, since they are already nervous and might just get trigger happy before you can reach for your own weapon. If you do have a gun, keep it concealed and do not let the criminals see it. You might just end up a victim.

Do not think that because you own a cheap car, you are safe from hijackings… These criminals would steal just about any car they can.

Buy decent spare parts when making repairs. Cheap parts might just let you down in the worst place.

I hope these tips might just save a life this holiday season.