Spiking on Our Roads: How to Keep Your Family Safe

Spiking on Our Roads: How to Keep Your Family Safe

What every South African motorist needs to know — and the one tyre upgrade that takes the criminals’ weapon away.

If you drive in South Africa — to work, on the school run, or home from a long day — you have probably seen the headlines. Spiking is no longer a rare crime. It is a daily reality on our highways, and it is happening to ordinary families on routes they have driven safely for years.

We wrote this piece because we are parents, partners, and children too. We want you to know what to look for, what to do if it happens, and how you can take this weapon out of the criminals’ hands altogether.

What spiking actually is

Spiking is a deliberate trap. Criminals place sharp objects — homemade nail strips, sharpened steel rods, broken concrete, or rocks — across a road, often disguised under a plastic bag, a piece of cardboard, or scattered debris. When your tyre is punctured, you are forced to slow down or stop. That is the moment they are waiting for.

From the side of the road, from a bridge above, or from a parked vehicle nearby, they move on you within seconds. The goal is robbery, hijacking, or worse. The crime depends on one single thing: your car coming to a stop.

Where it is happening

Spiking is no longer confined to the Pretoria ring roads. Recent reports confirm incidents across all major metros, with a particular increase in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal:

• Gauteng — Tshwane : N1 (Murrayhill, Hammanskraal, Zambezi off-ramp), N4 (Solomon Mahlangu to Watermeyer, Wonderpark, Donkerhoek), R80 Mabopane Highway
• Gauteng — Johannesburg : N1 North (Soweto Highway to Maraisburg), N1 South (Maraisburg to Rand Show Road), N12, N14 (Krugersdorp on-ramp)
• KwaZulu-Natal : N2 northbound between M19 and Queen Nandi Drive, Durban metro approaches
• Mpumalanga : N4 corridor between Pretoria and Mbombela, R566
• North West : N4 between Brits and Rustenburg

Source: Compiled from SAPS, AfriForum, MISA, City of Johannesburg Public Safety, and the Tshwane Metro Police Department, 2024–2026.

When you are most at risk

• Between 6pm and 4am, especially Friday evening through Sunday.
• On poorly lit stretches of highway and where traffic lights are out.
• Near off-ramps and on-ramps, where speeds drop and escape is harder.
• During load-shedding hours, when entire suburbs and roads go dark.

That said, several recent incidents have happened in broad daylight. Vigilance is no longer a night-time discipline.

When you are most at risk

• Between 6pm and 4am, especially Friday evening through Sunday.
• On poorly lit stretches of highway and where traffic lights are out.
• Near off-ramps and on-ramps, where speeds drop and escape is harder.
• During load-shedding hours, when entire suburbs and roads go dark.

That said, several recent incidents have happened in broad daylight. Vigilance is no longer a night-time discipline.

What to do — before, during, and after

BEFORE you drive

• Plan your route. Know the hotspots above. Where you can, take an alternative road, even if it adds 15 minutes.
• Travel in daylight when possible. If you must drive at night, share your live location with a family member.
• Keep your phone charged and emergency numbers saved — SAPS 10111, your security company, and your nearest neighbourhood watch.
• Check your tyres weekly. A tyre already weakened by wear or low pressure will fail far more dramatically when it hits a spike.

DURING the drive

• Look far ahead. Train your eyes to scan 100 metres beyond the bonnet, not just in front of it.
• Never drive over anything in the road, even if it looks like a harmless plastic bag or piece of clothing. Move into the next lane or onto the verge.
• Keep a generous following distance. If the car ahead swerves suddenly, you need time to react.
• Do not drive in the fast lane on hotspot routes. Criminals target it because reaction time is shortest.

IF you are spiked

• DO NOT STOP. Your life is worth more than your rim. A damaged rim can be replaced for a few thousand Rand. You cannot.
• Reduce speed to about 40 km/h and keep driving in a straight line. Do not slam the brakes.
• Drive to the nearest place of safety — a fuel station, police station, shopping centre, or busy public area. Sparks from the rim are a small price to pay.
• If you cannot make it, get distance from the car, hide, and call for help. Do not engage the criminals.
• Once safe, report it. Your call may save the next driver behind you.

There is a way to remove the trap entirely

Every piece of advice above keeps you safer. But every piece also depends on you reacting in time, in the dark, at speed, with adrenaline pumping. There is one preventative measure that does not depend on luck or timing — it works automatically, the moment the spike strikes.

THE ORIGINAL CHAIN BREAKER — PPP 101 is the Solution

Take the criminals’ weapon away.

PPP 101 Puncture Proofing Polymer is a hot-melt nano-reinforced rubber polymer applied as an inner lining to your tyres. When you hit a spike, a nail, a piece of glass — even a sharpened steel rod — the polymer instantly seals the puncture from the inside. Your tyre stays inflated. You keep driving. The criminals don’t get their second move.

From the cradle to the grave. One application protects your tyre for its entire service life — up to 10 years.

Why PPP 101 changes the game

• Instant Seal – Punctures are sealed from the inside the moment they happen — no air loss, no warning lights.
• Stay Mobile – You drive past the danger zone to a safe place. The criminals’ entire trap depends on you stopping.
• Lifetime Cover – One R 896 application per tyre. Protects against spikes, nails, thorns, and road debris for 10 years.

PPP 101 is a Styrene Isoprene Styrene (SIS) nano-reinforced rubber polymer, independently identified by CeNAM/Nuthill Technologies and tested under thermal stress at Red Star Raceway. It is applied as a hot-melt inner lining at 160–175°C inside your existing tyre — no special tyres, no compromise on handling. Once applied, it is bonded to the inner casing for the life of the tyre.

When a spike, nail, or sharp object pierces the tread, the polymer flows around the foreign object and into the breach, sealing it instantly. Your tyre stays inflated. You stay in motion. The trap fails.

Protect your family before your next trip.

Visit your nearest PPP Africa TyreShop Fitment Centre or contact us to find your closest branch.

Stay aware. Stay together. Get home safely.