The only road in South Africa where you can drive over 120km/h

There is only a single road in South Africa where individuals are legally allowed to drive at speeds of up to 250km/h.

At all other times, motorists are capped at less than half this speed depending on the area and road that they are travelling on.

South African speed limits

Speed limits in South Africa are determined at the national level by the Department of Transport (DoT) and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), which means the same standards are applied across the nine different provinces.

The three most common speed limits are set at 60km/h, 100km/h, and 120km/h, which are applied to routes depending on the type of road and whether it is located in a built-up environment.

Of course, it can go lower than this, as “urban pedestrian priority” streets, such as those in a city’s CBD or outside a school, can be set at 20km/h or 40km/h to protect the safety of people who are frequently walking across the road.

Urban local access streets are capped at 60km/h, while minor urban arterial roads will increase this to between 70km/h and 80km/h, and major urban arterial routes such as metropolitan (M) roads are set at 80-100km/h.

Another consideration is whether a road in an urban area has property access, as it will be restricted to 60km/h to allow motorists to enter and exit the premises in a safe manner.

Larger vehicles, such as heavy commercial trucks, are also obliged to follow a lower speed than private cars, especially on mountain roads, as their increased mass makes it much harder for them to slow down.

This is why you’ll often see major routes with signs displaying two different speeds where trucks are typically required to drive at least 20km/h slower than everyone else.

Freeways, such as any of the national (N) roads, are where you will commonly run up against the 120km/h limit, which is the highest speed that anyone in South Africa can travel outside of private roads and racetracks, with one exception.

There is a single piece of public tarmac located in the Northern Cape where cars can be driven at speeds of up to 250km/h, though not anyone is allowed to do it.

The stretch of road between the small towns of Kakamas and Pofadder, which is part of the N14 freeway, is used as a testing ground for carmakers assessing the performance of new models in hot weather conditions.

The “250km/h” highway, as it is often referred to, is ideal for vehicle testing as it is a remote area in a desert province with few inhabitants.

The road itself is also flat and straight, letting new performance cars reach their full potential in a controlled environment before hitting the showrooms.

It’s hard to miss the speeding section, too, as the route is clearly marked with large yellow signs demarcating the area for “High Speed Test Vehicles Approved By Government.”

Manufacturers must get approval from the local authorities before doing their trials, but everyone else is required to treat it as a normal commute with a speed limit of 120km/h.