The #1 Road Sign You Do Not Want To See

By Ian MacKenzie On March 26, 2009 · 10 Comments

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Say you’re out on a leisurely drive, exploring the outskirts of the city…and you come across this:

Photo: hmvh

The sign is from South Africa, where apparently hijacking is still a serious issue.

To get yourself out of other sticky situations, check out How To Cross Dangerous Border Crossings.

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Ian MacKenzie

Ian MacKenzie is the founder and former editor of Brave New Traveler. He is a now a contributing editor to Matador, and the network's architect. Ian is also a documentary filmmaker, with his first feature (One Week Job) released in 2010.

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DHarbecke

Really? My choice would be: “If you can read this sign, it’s already too late.”

And it was.
http://www.ianmack.com Ian MacKenzie

@Daniel – I’d say it’s too late if a guy is crawling into the back of your car with a machine gun… until then, you still have time to lock the doors and hit the gas!
DHarbecke

That’s why I keep a sign in my glove compartment that says “You are NOT here,” so when I’m carjacked, I can make him look at it and he’ll have to leave. It works in Haiti.
http://jenlaceda.blogspot.com/ jen laceda

Do you know where exactly is this sign? I’d like to avoid it when I’m in SA.
http://www.ianmack.com Ian MacKenzie

@jen – looks like it in Johannesburg somewhere…that’s the best I could find. Hope you never see it!
http://thelonglayover.blogspot.com Carlo Alcos

How bout they replace that sign with a cop or two…
http://nodebtworldtravel.com Brian from nodebtworldtravel.com

People warned me off from Joburg (not sure where in South Africa this is) but the fact that there is an official sign warning of it means where there is smoke, there is fire.
http://Travel-Writers-Exchange.com Rebecca

Uh! Oh! Too late!

Thanks for letting me know about this. I would like to go to South Africa.
http://hmvh.blogspot.com Herby

If I remember correctly, the sign stood right here — http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=centurion+south+africa&ie=UTF8&ll=-25.839638,28.185537&spn=0.003037,0.005879&t=h&z=18

They’re pretty much all over certain places but it may have been (re)moved (or stolen) since.
This one http://home.arcor.de/hmvh/2002/097.htm wasn’t there the last time I looked for it, the hotspots obviously change.
Sasha

We my have high crime rates and yes there are those signs, i love this country to death. Seriously I’ve lived here all my life and im still alive and i get to experience the bush veld, vuvuzelas, braais and AFRICA every day so worth it

The #1 Road Sign You Do Not Want To See

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