Johannesburg - With the festive season here, law enforcement officials have warned motorists to be especially vigilant as more and more criminals are on the prowl to smash your car windows and grab your belongings in Joburg this December.
Andre Snyman, the founder of eblockwatch, said criminals usually targeted motorists in the north of Joburg in areas such as Sandton, Rosebank and surrounding suburbs, but the hotspots were scattered all over the city.
“In the north is where the wealthy people are. They have the best laptops and phones. Obviously people in those areas will be targets.”
Snyman said, however, that eblockwatch had also seen a significant increase in smash and grab incidents on bridges on the ring road highway where there are no off and on ramps.
“They target the motorists who sit in traffic on those bridges. There is nowhere to go. They smash the window and steal the motorist’s belongings before running down on to the highway where a getaway car will be waiting.
“They are very clever. They plan their getaway before they plan the crime,” Snyman said.
Joburg metro police spokesman Edna Mamonyane said they had recorded very few incidents recently.
She there had been a reduction in the cases of smash and grab reported.
Although Snyman said the list provided on the right was just the tip of the iceberg, these are some of the areas in Joburg and Pretoria where smash and grab incidents occur frequently.
HOT SPOTS
Joburg:
The William Nicol Drive off-ramp from the N1 on the Sandton side.
The corner of Old Pretoria Road and 1st Avenue in Alexandra.
New Road off-ramp in Midrand.
Riviera Road off-ramp near Killarney Mall.
Intersection of Christiaan de Wet Road and Wilgerood Road in Roodepoort.
All the traffic lights along Louis Botha Avenue between Alexandra and Hillbrow.
Parkwood and Saxonwold (Rosebank precinct).
Upper Houghton and Killarney (Hillbrow precinct).
Between 10th and 11th Avenues and 4th and 7th Avenues in Parkhurst (Parkview precinct).
Glenhazel, Lombardy East and Sandringham (Sandringham precinct).
Orange Grove and Highlands North (Norwood precinct).
Yeoville, Bellevue and Bellevue East (Yeoville precinct).
Wynberg, Bramley, Marlboro and Kew (Bramley precinct).
Pretoria:
The Atterbury Road off-ramp from the N1 in Menlyn.
Lynnwood Road off-ramp on the N1.
John Vorster Drive off-ramp from the N1 in Lyttelton.
Jean Avenue off-ramp from the R28 in Centurion.
Rigel Avenue off-ramp from the N1 in Erasmuskloof.
Corner of University Road and Lynnwood Road in Hatfield.
The traffic lights along Walker Street in Sunnyside.
The Lynnwood Road and Hans Strijdom Drive intersection in Garsfontein.
The traffic lights along Nelson Mandela Drive in Sunnyside.
The traffic lights along Simon Vermooten Road in Silverton.
Along Beyers Naude Drive and Paul Kruger Street in Wonderboompoort.
Nelson Mandela Drive, Duncan Street and Walker Street in Sunnyside.
The R55 in Erasmia.
Burnett Street, Hilda Street and the Atterbury Road off-ramp in the Brooklyn area.
Delfi Avenue and Garsfontein Road in Garsfontein.
Saturday Star