THE quarterly Tracker vehicle crime index revealed when and where vehicle crime is most likely to occur in the country and showed vehicle theft and hijacking trends were unchanged from the annual crime index released in August.
Stats from Tracker’s 1.1-million installed vehicle base for July to September provide insight into when vehicle crime is most likely to occur and places most affected by vehicle crime.
KwaZulu-Natal was second on the list of places in which Tracker initiated recovery action, followed by Gauteng.
Durban was listed as one of the towns worst affected by hijacking and theft of motor vehicle.
Tracker data indicates that the most activations for hijackings took place on Saturdays followed by Thursdays, while vehicles were activated for theft equally on Friday and Saturday.
Most hijackings took place between 10am and 2pm as well as between 8pm and midnight, on any day of the week, while theft occurred mainly between 5am and 8am.
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According to the stats, hostage-taking during hijackings and hijackers impersonating law enforcement officials remained a concern.
Regarding hotspots, these were reported to change frequently, therefore Tracker advised people to be vigilant wherever they go.
Ron Knott-Craig, executive for operational services at Tracker South Africa said while the 2018/2019 SAPS crime statistics noted a national decrease of 1.8 per cent in car and truck hijackings and a national decrease of 4.6 per cent in vehicle theft, vehicle-related crime remains high with a total 17,208 car and truck hijackings and 48,324 vehicles reported stolen.
He said the SAPS figures combined with Tracker’s statistics indicate that South Africans should be wary and remain vigilant at all times, and especially during October and November when there was a noted peak in vehicle-related crimes.
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