The Festive season is a time to enjoy with loved ones, a time where most people take long holidays to visit friends and family but it is also a time to be extra vigilant about safety in your environment, Randfontein Police said.
Captain Appel Ernst, spokesperson for Randfontein Police station issues the following tips and warnings:
Aggressive driving:
Aggressive driving is a major concern and a real threat to the safety of all road users. Any unsafe driving behavior, performed deliberately and with ill intention or disregard for safety, can constitute aggressive driving. Here are a few tips on how to deal with aggressive drivers, plus helpful hints to reduce your own stress while driving:
• Protect yourself: If you are dealing with an aggressive driver, make sure your car’s doors are locked. If you are stopped in
the traffic, leave enough room to pull out from behind the car you are following. If an aggressive driver confronts you, call 10111 or drive to the nearest police station.
• Do not take it personally: Be polite and courteous, even if the other driver is not. Avoid any conflict, if possible. If another driver
challenges you, take a deep breath and move out of the way. Never underestimate the other driver’s capacity for causing harm.
• Reduce your own stress: Understand that you cannot control the traffic, only your reaction to it. In the end, you may find that personal frustration, anger and impatience are the real danger zones on the highway.
• Be a courteous driver: You can set a good example, which can help make our roads safer, by doing the following :
– Control your anger
– Avoid making eye contact with an aggressive driver
– Do not make obscene gestures
– Do not tailgate
– Use your horn sparingly — even a polite honk can be misinterpreted.
– Do not block the passing
Safety awareness at home:
A high fence around the house with lockable gates, is much safer than a high wall due to the advantage of the improved visibility it
provides. Ensure that your gates are locked at all times and that the keys cannot be reached easily and are not lying around uncontrolled.
The following devices prevent easy access:
• Window bars
• Security doors
• Security gates
• Razor wire
• Strengthening of doors
• Safety chains to doors
• Intercom system between the home and gate, front door or garage
Safety Precautions:
• Ensure that all doors are locked at all times, and that windows are closed when you are not at home.
• Large dogs serve as a deterrent. At least one dog should be trained to sleep inside the house.
• If you leave your residence, inform your family/ neighbors of your intended destination, time you expect to return and the route you will be driving, especially if you reside in a rural area.
• Ensure that tools such as axes, spades, picks, ladders, etc that can be used in
an attack, are locked away when you do not use them.
• You should not be visible in the bedroom from the outside when you are asleep.
• Identify relatively safe places of refuge, ie: bathroom, toilet or storeroom.
• The fewer windows and doors these rooms have, the better.
• Report suspicious behavior and information to the South African Police Service.
• Clear the areas around the gates of bushes and other hiding places.
• Take photographs of all employees, it could be to your advantage to identify them, if required.
• Do not employ casual workers without a reference.
• Keep copies of all your employees – Identity Documents (ID’s).
• Ensure that you have a good relationship with your neighbors so that you will be in a good position to support and help each other.
Access and Key Control
• Do not allow strangers on your premises or in your house without having properly identifying the person, especially at night.
• Identify keys by means of codes instead of indicating in writing on labels to which gate/door access can be gained.
• Keys to the safe must be kept on the person.
• Never hide any keys in traditional places, such as in pot plants or under doormats.
• Keys in the keyhole on the inside of the front or back door should be turned to avoid easy removal.
• Never allow strangers to handle keys or look at key numbers.
• Change locks when keys are lost.
• Remove keys from doors when leaving.
Communication:
There should be two systems for alternative back up:
• Telephone
• Cellular phone
• Have the telephone installed where it is easily accessible from anywhere in the house.
• Inform your children not to give an indication that adult supervision is not available when they answer the phone.
Safety Awareness in a vehicle:
• Do not leave your vehicle unlocked, even if you think you will be away for only a minute.
• If a stranger wants to talk to you while in your vehicle, do not open the window wide – only five cm is enough to have a discussion.
• If something seems suspicious, do not talk to strangers, rather be rude and drive away.
• If approached by a stranger while in your car, drive off if possible or press your hooter to attract attention.
• If your car is bumped from behind and you do not feel comfortable with the individual(s) involved in the situation, drive to the nearest police station for help.
• Do not resist, especially if the thief has a weapon.
• Give up your vehicle with no questions asked and move away.
• A lift club limits the risk of becoming a victim of crime.
• Do not give strangers a lift.
Safety Awareness when Parking/Driving your Vehicle:
• Avoid parking your motor vehicle where there are no security officers guarding other cars
• Make sure that all the doors and windows are properly locked when you park your car
• Valuable items like a laptop and camera should be put in the boot of your car.
• Be aware of people coming to you and informing you that you have a flat tire, the intention can be to steal items that they see inside the car or rob your car.
• Always close your windows when driving in the city center.
• Do not open your windows for hawkers along the road and at the robots.
• Keep the doors locked and windows closed at all times.
• Do not use a cellular phone unless you have a hands-free kit.
• Lock your valuables in the cars boot before departure.
• At night, park in well-lit areas.
• Do not leave your goods/valuable items visible in the car.
• Always lock the doors and close the windows when getting out of the car.
• Remove detachable radios and the radio’s face when getting out of the car.
• Try to fit an alarm and/or anti-theft device in your car.
• Have your keys ready in your hand as you approach your car, especially if they are difficult to find in your handbag.
Sector numbers:
• Sector 1 – 071 675 7099
Mohlakeng 071 675 7092
• Sector 2 – 071 675 7093
Toekomsrus
• Sector 3 – 071 675 7094
CBD 071 675 7100
• Sector 4 – 071 675 7095
Greenhills 071 675 7096
• Sector 5 – 071 675 7097
Plots and farms 071 675 7098
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