Driving tips in South Africa - The Scribs and Nibs

Driving in South Africa is like a cooperative NASCAR race. I’ve compiled some of the driving tips for South Africa that I wish I had when we moved here. Whether you’re driving in Joburg, Cape Town, or along the Garden Route, these tips will come in handy.

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Renting a car

If you need a rent a car, I suggest you look up options via Discover Cars, which is what I use for my bookings. For Joburg, you don’t need to rent a car, but I always suggest it for Cape Town. We visit Cape Town a couple of times a year and I always rent becuase the first time we spent so much money on Ubers that it was almost twice the cost of renting a car.

License requirements

You have a valid driving license in English to drive in South Africa or an international driver’s permit.

Left side driving

Here, we drive on the left side of the road. Just go slow at first and you’ll get the hang of it. The biggest growing pain for me was turning on the windshield wipers instead of the light signal.

Thriving on the South African roads.

Turning

There is no red light turns allowed. In the US, you can usually turn right on a red light if there is no “no turn on red” sign. That’s not the case here. To turn left, you must wait for a green light.

Don’t assume that cars are going to slow down because the light is turning yellow. More often than not, everyone speeds up at a yellow light. In that case, wait for your right-turn arrow.

Sometimes, the right turn arrow shows up after the people going straight have a red light (instead of getting a green arrow when the whole lane turns green). I’ve been honked at a couple of times because of this.

Watch out for the taxis

Avoid the white mini-busses like the plague. They make random stops, back up on the highway, cross over four lanes with no warning, and generally cause chaos.

Highway Driving

Some of the highways will have two lanes in either direction whereas others are single lanes. Get comfortable with passing trucks and slow cars. Generally, road infrastructure is good. You’ll run into the occasional pothole both in cities and out in the bush.

Random stopping on the highway is among South Africa’s favorite pastimes. I’ve seen cars get on the highway and just immediately get onto the shoulder and stop. I’ve seen them stop and reverse to make an exit… And most of the time I’ve seen men stopping to pee on the side of the road. I’ve never seen this is in an area where there is a relatively good highway and gas station infrastructure… Anyway, it’s common.

Passing Cars

There are some unwritten rules for passing cars.

First, if you’re being passed you should try to help the faster car by driving on the shoulder whenever possible. Cars may flash their headlights at you to indicate this. Cars on the other side of the road are generally aware and also move onto the shoulder to help the faster car pass.

This guy looks dead with his feet hanging up over the side of the pickup. Excuse the glare pls.

If you are passing and the car you are passing has gotten onto the shoulder to help you, it’s courtesy to flash your hazard lights at them for a second to say, “thank you.” More often than not, the car will flash its headlights at you to say, “you’re welcome.” This is adorable and I love it.

I’ve never driven faster in my life than when passing trunks on a highway. Nor have I “floored” it so much. If you don’t feel comfortable passing (it takes time), there will occasionally be pull-offs for the trucks to get on the side of the road.

Stay calm and don’t risk passing if you’re not sure you’ll get enough speed to pass. Don’t pass on the windy mountain roads either. Those areas are very dangerous.

Speed

Highway speed limits are usually set at 100km/hour or 120km/hour.

How fast drivers go on the highway is another story. It’s crazy. For example, if the speed limit is 120km/hour, you may have an old car going only 60km/hour, whereas an SUV may be going 160km/hour.

There are police out on the highway occasionally and there is “average speed enforcement,” though I have no clue if those cameras are in operation. Average speed enforcement is when a car’s speed is tested at two points.

Although there are times I could use cruise control on the highway, everyone’s speeds are so different that I barely used it.

This guy is doing a u-turn on the highway because there is a traffic jam. He’s obviously going to be going slow in the “fast” lane when he joins the other side. Nonsense.

Urgent breaking

If you need to break all of a sudden, you should turn on your hazards to let the car behind you know that they need to slow down. This is common practice in many countries (not so in the US, but I do it there too). This applies to both city and highway driving.

Car Safety

It’s important to be an alert driver!

Always lock your car and be sure all the doors are locked before you go.
Car jamming is somewhat common. This is when a criminal will stop your remote key from locking your car by blocking the signal with another device. I haven’t had this happen to me but it’s a thing.
Do not leave anything in eyesight. Put all packages in the trunk and try not to drive around with any valuables.
If you’re driving with the windows down, keep your phone out of sight. Someone may come by and swipe it before you even know what’s happening!
Be aware if you’re being closely followed behind you and the car in front of you is also going really slowly on an exit. This is how criminals can block your car from moving and rob you or take your car.

Roadblocks

If you see an unusual roadblock, perhaps trash or rocks randomly in the middle of the road, there may be some people nearby waiting to get your phones or your car. This could have happened to me once at an exit off the highway. I noticed that seemingly random rubble and rocks were placed in the exit lane. I immediately reversed back onto the highway and took the next exit instead.

Nighttime driving

There are few areas of the country where streetlights work at night.

If you’re the only car around and you come across a red light, you may want to go through it if you don’t feel safe. Keep your eyes on your two side mirrors and your back mirror. I do this all the time at night at red lights even in my neighborhood; I call it the three-point-check!

Other driving tips in South Africa

Rental cars— Manual cars tend to be much cheaper to rent than automatic cars. Generally, a sedan will be fine for your adventures but if you expect a lot of dirt roads, you’ll be more comfortable in a larger car.
Getting gas— There are gas attendants to fill up your tank. I sometimes tip them if I have coins, either R2 or R5. If you don’t have coins, that’s fine.
Power outages— Some lights just never work and others are impacted by power outages. In a busy intersection, cars take turns crossing in a clockwise formation. If it’s not crowded, then whatever car arrives first crosses the intersection first.
Animals— In some rural areas, look out for sheep and cows.
Parking attendants— Tip some coins whenever you can. I usually tip between R2 – R5, depending on how many coins I have. I usually buy something small at a shop in cash and request a lot of coins for change.

Watch out for cows!

Got any more driving tips in South Africa? Put them in the comments!