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It’s almost the festive season, which means tourists will be making their way into the city of Cape Town very soon.

Their first port of call is the Cape Town International Airport, which is where an unfortunate number of visitors are greeted by the brutal reality of South Africa’s crime before even setting foot into their hotel.

The N2 highway leading to and from the airport remains a hotspot for attacks on motorists. It has been so bad that it is dubbed the N2’s notorious ‘Hell Run’.

Daily Maverick reports that in the past year, the South African National Road Agency’s (Sanral) detection system responded to more than 200 crime events on the N2 and R300 in Cape Town.

“The freeway statistics are analysed monthly and have indicated portions of the N2, R300, N1 and N7 as high-priority sections. This is a year-long initiative and not limited to the festive season,” said Sanral’s western region manager, Randall Cable.

“The majority of these incidents on the N2 were robbery incidents, where stationary vehicles were targeted and attacked, followed by a decreased rate of smash and grabs at intersections,” Cable continued.

The publication has reported on several attack incidents on the N2 and surrounding in recent months, including a woman who died of a heart attack when her window was smashed in March, a 21-year-old student from Inscape in Stellenbosch whose jaw was broken from rock throwing, and most recently, an LA couple were robbed when Google Maps directed them via a dodgy road to get to the airport.

As if that’s the end of it, on Friday, November 3, a 55-year-old US tourist was shot in the face and robbed when a navigation service sent him through Nyanga to Simon’s Town from the airport.

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis reportedly had a “fruitful” discussion with Google Maps about implementing better safety measures for tourists navigating our roads.

Meanwhile, police highway patrols are not effective, according to Marc Volker, the founder and CEO of the Safe N2 Project, which aims at tracking largely underreported street crime in the region.

“The issues regarding the highway are very prevalent. They escalate every time and the safety and security staff intensifying efforts in terms of patrols and visible policing has zero impact because it does not slow it down,” he said.

The police, on their part, reckon they’re doing their best. The  City of Cape Town’s metro police department spokesperson, Ruth Solomons, said the incidents of stone-throwing were random and did not follow a clear pattern.

“All City of Cape Town enforcement departments, including specialised units such as the Highway Patrol Unit, will act and support SAPS if notified about incidents or when officers come across such incidents.”

So the police are only there when an incident does occur, but are not necessarily available for the prevention of crimes.

Otherwise, travellers are encouraged to use the resources provided, AKA a “travel-wise platform that includes a ‘safety in Cape Town’ section, which provides up-to-date safety information, practical tips and emergency contact numbers” per Cape Town Tourism spokesperson Briony Brookes.

This information is said to be distributed at hotels and during visitor safety activations.

[source:dailymaverick]