By: Natasha Archary
Every South African driver understands the unwritten rules of the road and driving, which have become ingrained in our patriotic DNA.
Ask any South African driver and they will tell you that driving on our country’s roads is akin to an extreme sport.
Not only do you have to be highly skilled to manoeuvre through roads that are gridlocked due to loadshedding, but you also have to navigate potholes.
All while maintaining your cool because the last thing a South African driver needs is a rough encounter with a taxi driver you just flashed the zap sign to.
Listeners share with Thomas and Skhumba some of the rules of the road that they picked up as part of their survival tactics.
Unwritten rules about driving in South Africa
- Rules don’t apply to taxi drivers
Taxi drivers can take up two lanes, push their way in front of you, block a road, drive on pavements, use the yellow emergency lane, speed, drive into oncoming traffic and one-way streets because the rules of the road simply do not apply to them.
If you see a taxi ahead of, to the side or behind you, just surrender some space between you and the taxi for your sanity.
Whether they indicate or not, just assume they need to gap in ahead of you and go on with life. Don’t hoot, swear or gesture rudely to a taxi driver, unless you’re this Ford Ranger driver.
- Saying thank you with hazards
We’re South Africans, and that means that the emergency hazard lights are not just used in an emergency, when you’re stuck on the road.
Instead, the two blinking orange indicator lights are used to say thank you to the driver behind you who gives you some space to cut in front of them.
- Flashing headlights means move out of the way
Nothing frustrates a South African driver, particularly Gauteng drivers more than a slow driver on the fast lane. If you’re travelling slower than the 120km/h speed limit on the highway and a car comes up behind you with flashing headlights, you need to move.
- First come, first go
This applies to fourway stops, stop streets, traffic circles or when traffic lights (robots) are out due to loadshedding.
If a driver flashes their headlights at you once, it means he/she is giving you right of way, don’t hesitate, take the courtesy and move on. Don’t forget to say thank you with your hazards.
- Merging lanes
While the rules of the road state that drivers should keep left and pass right, this rule doesn’t apply in the South African driver’s unwritten rules about driving.
Under the unwritten rules, drivers will merge or overtake on lanes from the left or right.
LISTEN: To the conversation on Kaya Drive
Also read: Have you had the “inheritance’’ talk with your kids?
