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Discover South Africa
Road conditions in South Africa
Road conditions in South Africa
Find out which side of the road South Africans drive on.
Tips on what you need to drive on South African roads.
Discover interesting things to look out for on South African roads.
Experience South Africa with our rental vehicles
What are South Africa roads like to drive on?
General road conditions in South Africa
South Africa drives on the left, and road conditions are generally very good throughout the country. The speed limit is 120 km/h on freeways outside towns. be sure to watch road signs to see the speed limit otherwise, you will be stopped by traffic officers or caught by a speeding camera. There are paved highways and secondary roads between all the major towns, and a network of gravel roads connecting rural areas. The paved roads aren’t always perfect, however, and some sections can be badly potholed. Particularly bad sections are usually signposted so keep an eye out for ‘slaggate’ – the word for potholes in Afrikaans. Also, keep a lookout for people and livestock, especially on the dirt roads of the Wild Coast and in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Drive cautiously on gravel regardless of the type of vehicle you’re driving. Providing you drive slowly, even regular cars will be fine on most dirt roads.
If you plan to hire a car most car rental companies will require you to have a valid driver’s license in your home country and an International Driving Permit (IDP). Certain foreign driving licenses ay not be covered in the event of an accident which is why most car hire companies will require you to present an IDP.
If you will be in South Africa long term and will be buying or driving a friend’s car, you only require a valid Driver’s License which is in English which has your picture, which can be used to identify you. You can use your foreign driver’s license for up to a year of your arrival date. If your driver’s license is not in English, you will need to obtain an International Drivers License. You must carry your driving license with you at all times if you are driving.
Most car hire companies require you to have had a driver’s license for a specific amount of time before you can hire a car (generally around 3 years).
Very efficient,
cost effective and a
pleasure to deal with.
Lauritz Holm-Nielsen
Reviewed: 14 October 2019
Every quote can be
tailor-made to your
budget and dates
Trevor will be your destinations expert,
he will get back to you within 24 hours.
About Drive South Africa
Drive South Africa car rental is your complete online motor vehicle resource supplying a wide range of car rental, 4×4 rental, camper van rental and luxury rental vehicles across Southern Africa.
Since our inception in 2002 as a Cape Town car hire specialist we’ve steadily grown to service an increasingly diverse breadth of clients looking for car hire. Cape Town is our backyard but by no means the limit of the experience and knowledge we’ve accrued over the years.
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To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
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The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
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The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
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The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.