Safe Speed Forums

Just for starters, you're fifteen times more likely to be killed on the roads there. (and climbing) And it's not hard to see why - things like lane discipline being totally nonexistent, and you're very likely to encounter a lorry with no tail lights and belching out clouds of black smoke, doing 20mph in the outside lane. And hopelessly overloaded and unroadworthy minibuses darting all over the road, etc etc etc.
Oh, and cameras - lots of - as well as manned speed traps - lots of.

Cheers
Peter

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

Like Australia, in SA it depends on where you are - there are a few around the major towns, but in the hundreds of miles I drove around Cape Town, along the Garden Route and in the Durban region you really don't see that many Scameras, about 1% of number found in Staffordshire. Saw a couple of patrol cars, but that was it - nothing approaching what the UK is like, and yes, like here, I would have tripped the odd trap when conditions allowed.

There are a higher number of road deaths, but it has to be put into the context of the environment. A proportion of vehicles on the road are held together with some sort of grass - it is still sub saharan africa. There is also the fact that a large proportion of the population walk everywhere, and if somebody built a 3 lane motorway across the route, well you just walk across it. Yes there is a lot of public information telling them not to and the central reservation makes it hard to cross, but they still do it. However as long as you stay away from J'burg and central Cape Town, congestion is almost non existant. Lane dicipline isn't great I agree, but with minimal congestion it wasn't a problem.

On the plus side the food is great, locally produced and cheap, the wine is great locally produced and cheap, the weather is quite a bit warmer, the landscapes dramatic, and they have really good (and cheap) golf courses.

Perhaps I should investigate a secondment out there first - my company has offices in both Jburg and CapeTown.

Well, yes - you can almost literally drive for hundreds of miles without seeing another soul, but in the built-up areas it's a different story.
Be careful of toll roads - they have progressively lower speed limits as you approach the toll booths - like 80, 70, 60... and guess where they put the speed trap.




Yes, away from the built-up areas - I agree. Problem is, that's where all the work is (if you can find it)



Not so cheap, though, if the only money you have is the pittance you earn if you're living there.



Given the choice, I'd go for Capetown. In Jo'burg you're kept awake at night by gunshots, you get mugged and cleaned out at regular intervals (no joke) and winter nights are bloody freezing. (especially as few houses are even well-insulated, let alone have central heating)
Capetown winters, however, are a lot like Bristol winters - grey, windy and damp.

Cheers
Peter

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

Southern Germany mate!.............Despite the taxes, Wish that I'd have had the same foresight at your age I've tried to tell others....but?

Nothin' for you here whatever your trade. You're looking at the future "Iceland" here my son. Although "they" do have the great advantage of free thermal energy, which we do not!..........

Flee this outpost of humanity now!.........for we are the "doooomed"! outpost of the European continent!!! BTW, I'm serious!..........Good Luck!

Oh! :edit: Forgot to say that yes! In South Africa you have to "lock your" gates".........Switch on your house alarm"..........."let your dogs out"..................."load your gun"........................"set the area alarm"............................EVERY NIGHT!

Oh and............DON'T stop at red traffic lights after dark, they jump over the nearby wall or edge and shoot you!

Kinda' makes the cheap fuel look meaningless don't it? still, we're working to reach the same type of ecomomy here too, don't ya' know!

Nah! on reflection, stick with Europe mate!........................

And "Pirate taxis" --overloaded inside + busses with massess inside and animals on top - or have they stopped that -

The pirate taxis are the minibuses I mentioned. Animals on top of buses? that's a new one on me - i never saw anything like that.

cheers
Peter

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

Looks like they've stoped it, but it wasn't uncommon to find chickens under the seat and anything else on top -

Starting to look into second property in France - possibly south Germany (business, pension enhancement, retirement opportunity etc.)

I like the idea of two bases, if only I had the money to match my ideas

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian