The recent minibus crash that killed eight Britons in South Africa has been ascribed to a disturbed pedestrian.
Such pedestrian activities are a big hazard facing motorists in South Africa and Irish tourists who go there. It's common to see pedestrians "waltzing" between traffic on the main roads and motorways, either in bravado or making their way to a minibus taxi stop on the other side.
These minibuses are notorious for their unroadworthiness, as well as for crashes due to the distances travelled by drivers without rest. Official statistics from South Africa's Department of Transport show the accident rate for minibus taxis at more than four times that for cars.
If you drive in South Africa, keep an eye out for these "mobile road missiles". But there are other precautions you must also take. Lock your doors every time you get into your car. There are 110,000 cars hijacked a year.The bulk are "exported" to neighbouring countries.
But this doesn't mean you break all red lights for fear of coming to a halt. Red lights still means stop. And where green means "go" with suitable care.
We were warned not to open the window to those who sell the Big Issue, red roses, or who come up with hand-written signs and black plastic bags. When we did drop a window to provide a few rands and some litter for the black bag, we were greeted with a brilliant smile and a sincere "thank you". Not all the scare stories are warranted . . .
But while we were staying in one of the best neighborhoods of Capetown - where every home had a tall iron fence and a sign advertising armed response to any intrusion - two black police were shot, one fatally, just up the road when they stopped three people to query their intentions.
So, which scare story about security do you work with? Hard to tell. So what advice for those planning a trip to South Africa?
The good news is that they drive on the left. Driving around Capetown is easy. There are four motorways which each end in the central Waterfront area.
When you take the main roads out into the country, they are what we would love to have at home - long tarmac surfaces, either turning up through the valleys of the wine country or loping gently in the wheatlands farms of the "garden route". But going through towns on the way, or even on their bypasses, can be fraught with speeding claims on your Visa/Mastercard. If you are driving a rental, speed violations on camera are charged to the credit card you used to rent the car. A significant contributor to the 10,000-plus annual deaths on South African roads is the popularity of pickups, or "bakkies", in the construction industry. Just up the road from us, an accident claimed the lives of nine of the 14 people riding in the truck "bed" when it blew a tyre and hit a tree. And the following day we counted some 27 workers in another pickup . . .
Be prepared for long distances between petrol stations. Petrol stations in South Africa do not accept credit cards. Maybe it is something to do with the low price of fuel, at around 42 cents euro per litre, but every petrol station we came to had an ATM.
Then there are the baboons. You come across them regularly. Don't feed them. Apart from the fact that you can be fined for it, you're not doing them any favours filling them with sweets.
And whatever you do, don't leave your car parked at the Cape of Good Hope with a window down or a door open. They get in real quick, and it's difficult to get them out.
So between the baboons, the accidents and the carjacking, should it scare off potential visitiors. Not at all. Is it any worse than in some parts of Dublin? Personally, I lock the car doors when I reach Newlands Cross.