Africa's a rough place...

[pbwalker]

Just out of curiosity, what are CHL laws like down in South Africa?

[joe817]

Wow Andy, that's quite a chilling story. You were ever mindful of your situational awareness, and a tribute to your intestinal fortitude. Cudos to you.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

Some years ago when the carjackings were becoming routine, South Africans
were taking some drastic steps to cause harm to the carjackers:

1. Car owners were installing shotgun shells under the driver's seat. I'm not
sure how they could fire the shell up into the BG's bottom when they were 'jacked.
I would not be a fan of driving a vehicle with a shotgun shell ready to shoot me in
case of a malfunction. Mechanical and electrical devices fail on a regular basis!

2. Something that was safer for the car owner, but deadly to the carjackers:
The owner would leave a liquor bottle in the glove compartment for the carjackers
to find after they had stolen the vehicle.
The liquor bottle had poison in it and the carjacker would die when he drank it.

SIA

[Fangs]

Last time I visited, my family borrowed a car from one of my dad's college friends. It wouldn't start with the key, there was a magnet under they ash tray that had to be placed on a certain spot on the center console. Came in handy when our stuff got stolen at the beach in Durban.

[casingpoint]

Oh, Gauteng. For a second there I was thinking of Gatlinburg. The solution would be different in Gatlinburg.

[bryang]

Great post, Andy, and I am thankful that your sister and you were able to get out of a bad situation safe.

I really don't think I would want to visit that area.

-geo

[TDDude]

Some years ago when the carjackings were becoming routine, South Africans
were taking some drastic steps to cause harm to the carjackers:

1. Car owners were installing shotgun shells under the driver's seat. I'm not
sure how they could fire the shell up into the BG's bottom when they were 'jacked.
I would not be a fan of driving a vehicle with a shotgun shell ready to shoot me in
case of a malfunction. Mechanical and electrical devices fail on a regular basis!

2. Something that was safer for the car owner, but deadly to the carjackers:
The owner would leave a liquor bottle in the glove compartment for the carjackers
to find after they had stolen the vehicle.
The liquor bottle had poison in it and the carjacker would die when he drank it.

SIA

I spent time there on mission trips a few years ago. The local pastor I was working with told of those two solutions among others:

His church van had a panic button installed and when activated, airborn armed responders took off, located the vehicle, coordinated ground responders and then basically anyone in the car surrendered or was killed. His van had large numbers painted on the roof as to be identifiable from the air. It also had decals from the "security company" that served as a warning to anyone interested.

People would install flame thowers under the car aimed at the area a jacker would occupy. With a touch of a button, crispy critter. I actually saw a 20-20 story that told of a local J'Burg car dealer offering that system as a dealer option on high dollar cars.

Machetes on mechanical arms powered by pneumatics. The idea was when the driver activated them, the huge knives would swing out and chop off the jackers feet at the ankle.

I was coordinating sound and light for the events I was a part of and many times found myself in conversation with the media techs. One evening, our group was in an extremely dangerous area and the guys with the sound company were terrified of striking the gear after everyone left. I asked why they didn't simply carry guns and the gyst of the answer is that they couldn't believe that I would consider such an option. Actively defending themselves never occurred to them. These were intelligent, nice, reasonable men and needless to say, they didn't get it.

We simply had a bunch of the local churchgoers stay with them and then escort them to the main road. We did that for the rest of the events they worked for us.

[TDDude]

silly blackberry doubleposted me.

[austin-tatious]

Ok, there's a Florida in South Africa?

According to Florida police spokeswoman...