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A video trending on social media, shockingly recorded by the driver, shows a motorist traveling at 308km/h on the N1 highway in Gauteng.
Dial Direct warns of the dire consequences of losing control of your vehicle at this speed.
Maanda Tshifularo, head of Dial Direct, says: “Speeding impairs your ability to avoid obstacles and drastically reduces the time you have available to react to a dangerous situation. One vehicle making a move that the driver didn’t anticipate, one piece of debris in the road or one failure like a tyre blowout, and this could end up as much more than just a wrecked car."
Popular UK motoring series, Fifth Gear, published a video of a crash at 193km/h (120mp/h) – a speed easily attainable by even midrange modern vehicles - that shows the devastating effect on the vehicle involved.
Do you think greater efforts should be made to curb illegal high-speed driving? Email us.
Greater speeds, greater risks
Even at lower speeds, the threats are very real. According to the World Health Organisation, the likelihood of death in a crash with an 80km/h impact speed is 20 times higher than that in a crash with a 30km/h impact speed. The faster you drive, the greater the impact will be when you hit something, whether it be another car, a tree, a barrier or wall. In essence, you need to slow down if you want to reduce your chances of being fatally injured.
JMPD’s Wayne Minnaar says: “Substantial fines aside, doing more than 40km/h over the speed limit will get you arrested on the spot. Depending on the severity of your infringement, you could face fines of up to R20 000 or even time behind bars.”
Tshifularo adds: “Whilst most modern cars have some very impressive safety features, most of these are rendered completely useless at higher speeds. We only need to rewind one year to when a Cape Town businessman’s legs had to be amputated after a high-speed crash.”
READ: 'Weapons of mass prosecution' - are hidden speed cameras legal in SA?
With this in mind, Dial Direct offers the following tips:
- Play by the rules. Always be aware of what the speed limit is for a specific area and stick to it. Set your vehicle’s speed warning or limiter if it has one.
- Invest in a vehicle with a high NCAP rating and good safety features, like side impact protection bars and airbags, to offer an extra line of defence.
- Make sure that your vehicle is well-serviced and maintained to ensure optimal handling in a crisis.
- If you spot a speedster, try take down the details of the vehicle and report it to the authorities.
Tshifularo concludes: “If you have a passion for fast cars and an insatiable need for speed, rather find your outlet at track days, advanced driving courses, karting circuits and even simulators than on the road. Once the damage has been done, a person has been injured, disabled or even killed, you’ll realise that the thrill isn’t worth it, but by then it’ll be too late."
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