Over the past year, the rate of hijackings seems to have sky-rocketed.

Things are getting so bad that South Africans have started fighting back. Last year, a man chose to wreck his car rather than hand it over.

One woman in Cape Town also used some mad reversing skills to get away, and another man was captured on CCTV cameras fighting off hijackers who tried to kidnap him.

These are just a few of the overwhelming number of stories that you’ll find in the news on an almost weekly basis.

In an attempt to curb hijackings in Joburg, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has started using highway cameras to track perpetrators.

A recent report released by Tracker containing its vehicle crime statistics for the year July 2018 to June 2019 shows why new approaches to crime prevention, like this, have become necessary.

BusinessTech reports that the stats are collected via Tracker’s installed vehicle base.

The statistics – from Tracker’s 1.1 million installed vehicle base – cover vehicle theft and hijacking, and provide insight into the time of day and day of the week when vehicle crime is most likely to occur in South Africa.

Tracker’s data showed that hijackers were particularly active on Friday mornings between 11AM and 1PM and then 8PM to 11PM.

Over the past 13 years, three cities – Johannesburg, eThekwini and Ekurhuleni – were the top three cities for carjacking, while three cities – Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay and Tshwane – show a similar pattern: after some years of decline, carjackings began increasing from 2011/12, but have slightly decreased since 2016/17.

If you’re living in Cape Town, Durban, Joburg or Pretoria, BusinessTech also looked into the National Hijacking Prevention Academy’s (NHPA) recent information about which streets are the most dangerous in these cities.

Their data, represented by the graph below, covers 2017-2018, and also confirms that Fridays are the most dangerous days to be on the road:

What follows is a list of the hijacking hotspots in Cape Town, Joburg, Pretoria and Durban.

Cape Town

• Voortrekker road between Bellville and Parow;
• The Corner of Military road and Prince George Drive;
• St Stephens road;
• Driving along Alice Street, especially near Voortrekker road;
• Travelling along Station road;
• Travelling along Klipfontein road;
• The corner of Prestwich road and Ebenhezer;
• Travelling along Vangaurd Drive;
• Travelling on the R300 under the bridges towards the N1 highway.

Joburg

• The corner of Kelvin Street and CR Swart;
• The corner of Pretoria road and CR Swart;
• The corner of Elgin road and Pretoria road;
• Linksfield road off-ramp off the N3;
• Booysens road off-ramp off the M1;
• The Nelson Mandela Bridge, be alert;
• Wolmarans between Claim and Nugget;
• The corner of Harrow and Saratoga;
• The corner of Harrow and Abel;
• The Houghton Drive off-ramp off the M1

Sadly, the list for Johannesburg goes on forever. You can read it in full here.

Pretoria

• Beyers Naude Drive and Paul Kruger Street;
• The R55 in Erasmia;
• Burnett Street, Delfi Avenue, Garsfontein road;
• The traffic lights on Stormvoel;
• The traffic lights on Watermeyer Street;
• The traffic lights on Nelson Mandela Drive;
• The crossing at Lynwood road and Simon Vermooten;
• The crossing at Lynwood road and Hans Strijdom;
• The traffic lights on Walker Street;
• The traffic lights on Duncan Street;
• The corner of University road and Lynwood road;
• The Rigel Avenue off-ramp from off the N1

This is another depressingly long list, albeit not as long as the list for Jozi. Read the full list here.

Finally, coming in with the shortest list of hijacking hotspots:

Durban

• Alpine Road;
• Crossings on West Street;
• The corner of Warwick Avenue and Smith Street.

Wherever you are in SA, stay safe out there.

[source:businesstech&businesstech]