Woman escapes spike robber unharmed

“Please do not pull over if you have tyre problems on the highway,” a local woman warned residents after posting a dramatic video of fleeing a would-be spike robber on the N1 South.

In her dashcam footage, which went viral on social media, the robber can be seen running across several lanes of the highway into nearby bushes as his intended victim looks on.

So-called “spike robbers” use metal spikes to force motorists to pull over to fix their damaged tyres and then rob them.

What makes this particular video disconcerting is the brazen nature of the attack: it happened at around 11:30 on October 3 on a busy highway.

“Even if it’s during the day, rather drive slowly to a safe place like a garage where you can then repair or change the tyre,” said Christine Kraamwinkel, who took the footage.

Kraamwinkel and her friend were travelling along the highway, between the Sefako Makgatho Drive and Stormvoël Road tollgates, when they came across an unidentified woman who had just pulled over on the side of the road because of a burst tyre.

“She [the victim] told us a man came to her window, wanting to attack her with a knife,” Kraamwinkel told Rekord.

Responding quickly, the woman jumped out of the vehicle and ran into the traffic.

“The robber didn’t get anything, she got out of the car with her handbag,” said Kraamwinkel.

In the video, posted on Sunday, the visibly shaken spike-trap victim can be seen trying to point to her vehicle to highlight what was happening amid oncoming traffic.

Kraamwinkel commended the other motorists who also pulled over to help the woman, adding “it was good to see that people still care”.

The video comes as police warned motorists to be extra careful and vigilant after three armed men attacked a family after they stopped on the side of the road in a separate incident.

After the incident, police spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo, said police had “stabilised” the number of spike-trap robberies in the province, particularly on the N4 highway and R566.

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“Crime pattern analysis showed that as soon as identified hotspots are mitigated with increased visibility of law enforcement and security partners, criminals either change their modus operandi or move to another location,” he said.

Days earlier, four suspects appeared in court on charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of firearm and ammunition and contravention of the Immigration Act for spiking incidents along the N1 and R101 roads.

Police also urged motorists who suspected that their tyres had punctured as a result of driving over spikes to immediately alert the police by calling their emergency number 10111 and also scan their immediate environment by staying vigilant while changing their tyres.

However, motorists were also urged to rather drive to their nearest filling station or police station if they felt unsafe.

The 14 suspects who were arrested in connection with terrorising and robbing the community along the R80/Theo Martinspoort and surrounding areas in October 2020 remained behind bars as they await trial.

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