Vehicle spiking in Gauteng has increased from a number of incidents per year to several a week, with criminals now going the extra mile to catch their victims.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Motor Industry Staff Association’s (Misa) Sonja Carstens said that criminals have caught wind of motorists starting to foil their plans and have changed their tactics in response.
In the past, they would lay spikes or other objects in the road and wait in the bushes until a motorist hits the spike and stops next to the road, and then proceed to rob them of their belongings.
Now that motorists have learned to no longer stop for anything even if they have a flat tyre, the criminals are starting to use their own vehicles – possibly stolen ones – to follow their victims until they have to pull over, and then rob them.
Additionally, they have started laying clothing on top of the spikes to fool drivers into thinking there is a person on the road.
The thieves have also become more violent. Oftentimes they don’t stop at simply taking what’s in the vehicle, they will also assault or rape their victim and drag them to ATMs to withdraw money until their accounts are empty, said Carstens.
Misa has identified the following hotspots in Gauteng where spiking incidents frequently occur:
A crime driven by desperation
There is no organised crime syndicate or mastermind behind the recent increase in vehicle-spiking incidents, rather, it is a crime driven by desperation.
There is a big market for stolen goods in South Africa and spiking crimes are relatively easy to replicate, so the more people become aware of these incidents, the more try copying them in hopes of scrapping together enough money to get them through another day.
“The more incidents we report on, the more criminals we’ve got trying this. Making spikes at home and actually trying this, so that’s why we’re seeing the increase,” said Carstens.
These perpetrators also choose main routes as they know the police are sluggish to respond to incidents on interprovincial roads.
“It is very difficult to say where the next one will pop up, where the next route will be, but it’s on the main routes, because [the criminals] know that the police are very slow to respond on the main routes,” said Carstens.
“The police tend to think that incidents will only happen on our more quiet routes so they leave the main routes to Sanral.”
However, Sanral is unable to patrol these roads for spiking incidents as it is mainly focused on vehicle accidents and potholes, hence, there is little protection for motorists against these criminals.
Carstens recommends that motorists avoid travelling on main routes at night and drive in a group whenever possible to stay out of harm’s way.
In the worst-case scenario, if your vehicle is damaged in a spiking incident drive as far as it will go and once it comes to a standstill, immediately exit the car and find a hiding spot on the opposite side of the road while you call for help.
“If you get spiked… don’t remain seated in your car, move across the road, in other words to the opposite direction, and hide in the field while you are phoning for help,” said Carstens.
“Because if you are going to remain seated in your car, they will rob you.”
Misa also calls on the police to employ the same tactics in response to vehicle spikings as it has with cash-in-transit heists, which is to patrol the high-risk routes at night in order to respond to incidents as and when they are happening.
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