Pretoria Travel Forum

I was wondering how heavy the traffic is in Petoria? I'm from a small city in Northern Idaho and moving to Pretoria and have visions of cars coming at me from all directions. Is Pretoria a large city with wall to wall people? Is it expensive? Let me know what you think. And any tips you might have to help me get prepared.
Thanks
Pat

Pretoria is a city with more that a million inhabitants and the traffic is like in any other city that size. As it is 'new world' city the streets in the centre are in a grit (like US cities) so it fairly easy to navigate.

A great deal of the cities entertainment life is centred around suburban malls so unless you work in the centre chances are you will spend most of your transit time driving betweens different suburbs.

Your biggest adjustment for local traffic will be the fact that we drive on the left side of the road, the car's steering wheel is on the right, and 95% of cars have stick shift. We go clockwise around traffic circles and when a car comes head-on from the front our gut reaction is to swerve left.

The traffic itself is not too bad.....unless you venture into areas served by mini-bus taxis. Those guys have little concern for non-taxis - best to give them space to do their thing. Pedestrians can also be a problem in some areas.

Price of fuel is slightly higher here. All service stations are full service. No credit cards accepted for fuel purchases (only cash or special debit cards). National speed limit is 100km/h except where indicated otherwise, or 120km/h on designated freeways. Cars are more expensive to purchase here.

Most irksome adjustment challenge for me when driving here is mistaking the turn signal lever with that of the wiper lever on the steering wheel. I still make the mistake once in a while of turning on the windshield wiper instead of the turn signal lever, when I want to turn.

If you are driving in the countryside on a saturday or sunday evening, be at the most defensive style of driving. Young and inexperienced drivers driving under the influence are a big problem. Witnessed 2 accidents and several near miss on almost deserted roads near liqour stores and drinking places.

bong

The turn signal lever for German-origin cars are on the left of the column, while most Japanese-origin cars have them on the right. There is not one specific rule over here.

I did not know that! Am using a honda and a toyota .

My sister currently resides in Pretoria. Her view is that traffic is congested, as in any metropole, but not as hectic as in some of the major cities in USA. She visited DC and San D and found the traffic in DC to be much the same as in P town in certain sections - worse in others. In comparison I would say not too bad at all. Reasonably heavy traffic during peak times on the highways. Also, in certain more affluent areas, like the East of Pretoria, the traffic seems to be more congested at peak times. But, as a rule drivers are polite and accomodating and do not tend to speed at each other just for the sake of getting there first. Do however stay clear of the taxis, as they do unfortunetely think the roads belong to them.