Upsurge in vehicle stoning on R300

The R300 has become a hot spot for criminals. File photo: Cindy Waxa/Independent Media.

The R300 has become a hot spot for criminals. File photo: Cindy Waxa/Independent Media.

Published Jul 28, 2015

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Cape Town - Motorists using the R300 have been cautioned to drive on a full tank and not stop for any reason – the latest warning about a stretch of road that authorities regard as a vehicle-stoning hot spot.

The warning from Western Cape traffic chief Kenny Africa follows an incident on Saturday evening in which a motorist narrowly escaped being hit by bricks hurled at his vehicle near Hindle Road.

IT technician Jeandre Terblanch was travelling towards Kuils River when he and other motorists were targeted by assailants standing on the side of the R300, just metres before the Hindle Road off-ramp.

Terblanch said three men, two dressed in reflector jackets, picked up bricks and started pelting passing vehicles.

“My bakkie was damaged by one of the bricks. I was travelling in the slow lane so I managed to get away. The car travelling next to me in the fast lane was hit extensively. His windows were bashed in,” he said.

Terblanch said that when he came to a stop at a red traffic light, he checked to see if the driver of the badly damaged vehicle was unharmed.

Satisfied that the driver was only “visibly shaken”, Terblanch said he then decided to “just drive home”.

“I looked for police or traffic officials alongside the road but could not spot any. I believe the guys (the assailants) were trying to cause our vehicles to swerve so that they could hijack and rob us. They could have killed us in the process,” he said.

CRIME “HOT SPOT”

The Delft and Kuils River cluster Community Policing Forum chairman Reginald Maart said yesterday that there has been an upsurge in vehicle stonings in the last two months.

He said the forum had been dealing with multiple complaints from Mfuleni to Delft and urged motorists not to travel alone along the R300 highway.

Africa confirmed that the road was a hot spot for criminals.

“There are CCTV spots were our cameras do not pick up and people try their luck, but when traffic officials patrol there they move further down the road,” he said.

Africa said assailants would hide themselves in the bushes until a vehicle was about to pass.

They would then use any materials at their disposal to force the vehicle off the road.

In January, Independent Media reported that similar incidents had prompted traffic officials to intensify their operations on the R300 between Hindle and Stock roads, and the N2 between Mew Way and Jakes Gerwel Drive.

The decision followed an incident on January 7 in which a Macassar resident was critically injured when a rock was flung through his car’s windscreen on the N2 just before the R300 off-ramp.

Yesterday, Africa said complaints had been received about the incidents and these were immediately responded to. “We have a team of police, metro police and traffic officials patrolling the area. We are increasing visibility and meeting on aweekly basis to strategise.”

However, he cautioned that “ motorists must drive on a full tank and not stop there (on the R300) for any reason”.

Terblanch said he had decided against reporting the incident to the police as he had escaped unscathed.

Provincial Transport and Public Works spokesman Siphesihle Dube condemned such incidents in which members of the public could beseriously injured by criminals.

Cape Argus

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