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The largest proportion of South Africa’s hijacking incidents between April 2021 and May 2022 occurred in the provinces of Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal.
Gauteng was hit with 231 reported incidents, while KZN battled 186 incidents, making the cities of Durban, Pretoria, and Johannesburg the riskiest in terms of hijackings in the country.
Security firm Fidelity Secure Drive recently released this data, alongside the car brands that hijackers are mostly after, the times that they prefer to strike, and the methods that they’ve devised to steal your car from you.
One should pay particular attention to Thursdays and Fridays as those days have shown the highest number of reported hijackings.
The times between 6AM and 9AM and 6PM to midnight during peak traffic hours, especially where there is reduced visibility, are particularly at risk.
The firm’s internal database also revealed that white or silver-grey Toyota Hiluxes and Volkswagen Polos were the most hijacked cars, per IOL.
The Toyota Hilux is a popular vehicle of choice in SA and the brand’s availability taking a knock because of issues in the local and global supply chain doesn’t exactly help with the high demand.
The Citizen added Toyota Quantum and Nissan NP200 to the list, with white or silver-grey being the preferred colours.
SecureDrive’s head of marketing and communications Charnel Hattingh says vigilance is key, with the golden rule being not to show that you are a threat to the hijackers.
Putting up your arms, turning away, and not looking anyone in the eye are responses that may come in handy if you ever find yourself in an unfortunate situation.
BusinessTech added a hijacking method of choice trending in the streets at the moment, something called the ‘tap tap’ trap:
This is where a criminal will deliberately drive into the back of your car in traffic, or ‘taps’ it, with motorists then hijacked when they get out of their car to assess the damage.
Instead of getting out of your car to assess any potential damage, your safest bet would be to drive to a busy area and hope the person who bumped you follows.
If it was not a legitimate accident, they won’t likely follow.
As always, stay safe, folks.
[sources:citizen&iol&businesstech]
