Road traffic in South Africa (and its neighboring countries) drives on the left.
Make sure you understand the South African road signs.
A special kind of crossing is the 'four way stop' where the car that stops first has right of way.
You will not encounter many traffic circles, but when you do, take special care since the general attitude of South African drivers is that traffic circles do not constitute a traffic management roadway structure. They do not use their indicators in a safe and predictable fashion, if at all.
A noticeable number of South Africans tend to ignore speed limits. They are prone to selfish or aggressive driving behavior, such as tailgating and hooting. On multi-lane roadways, the principle of keep-left, pass right, is often not adhered to. On two-lane roadways, cars often pass slower vehicles in the center of the roadway despite oncoming traffic. Cars are expected to merge into the emergency lane as much as possible to permit passing down the center, even in heavy traffic.
Left (or right) turns on red at traffic lights are illegal. You will, however, find traffic lights and 'four way stops' that have an accompanying yield sign explicitly permitting a left turn.
The wearing of seat belts is compulsory. The front seat occupants of a car are required to wear seat belts while traveling, and for your own safety, it is recommended that those in the rear seats do so as well. If you are caught without that, you will be subjected to a fine.
The use of hand-held cell (mobile) phones whilst in control of a vehicle is illegal. If you need to speak on your cell phone, use either a vehicle phone attachment or a hands-free kit. Or even better (and safer), pull off the road and stop. NOTE: only pull off the road at safe places, e.g. a petrol station. Pulling over and stopping along roads can be dangerous. The majority of petrol stations are open 24hrs.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about South Africa
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South Africa Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
