2010 Final Draw Long Street Party Info

We would like to provide more information from the Portfolio Travel Blog on the arrangements pertaining to traffic and parking at the World Cup 2010 Draw!

Parking:

You are advised not to try drive into the centre of Cape Town city but rather to make use of the free parking that has been made available at the Grand Parade.

From here, clear signage and officials will point you in the direction of Adderly Street and on to Long Street where the main festivities will be taking place.

The parking garages in the CBD have also been asked by the City to stay open later than usual.

The Stage:

The main FIFA stage is at the Long Street Baths end of Long Street.

Public Transport:

Metrorail trains will depart from Cape Town station up until 11 p.m.

Golden Arrow buses will operate from the Adderly Street bus terminal ‘as long as there is a need for them’, according to a spokesperson for the company. They foresee this to be until between1 and 2 am tomorrow morning.

Safety and Security:

A strong police presence will be in effect throughout Cape Town for the Final Draw and associated events. Police officers will be strategically deployed across the Mother City all day today. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa told the press that each police stationed area where events are taking place during the draw has been divided into sectors, with police officials placed on specific crime prevention duties on each sector.

Cape Town party people, all that’s left to say is have fun, play safe, don’t drink and drive and have a ball!

Information from The Portfolio Travel Blog

Hoe excited are South Africans about the World Cup?

Whites are the least excited about the 2010 Fifa World cup compared with other demographic groups in South Africa, a research survey showed.

“The survey revealed that 45 percent of whites are excited about the World Cup, compared with 86 percent of blacks, 69 percent of coloureds and 77 percent of Asians,” said TNS Research Surveys director Neil Higgs in a statement on Wednesday.

People were asked to agree or disagree with the statement: “I am excited about the World Cup”.

Although 76 percent agreed with the statement, the differences in responses of the race groups were stark, said Higgs.

Meanwhile, unemployed people were in favour of the event, believing job opportunities would increase.

Two thousand adults participated in the study in the seven major metropolitan areas. – Sapa

Also view:

• Road Safety towards 2010
• Road Safety Advice for Foreigners travelling in South Africa
• Spectator Survival Guide to Safety on road to the Sports Stadium
• Guide to Safety and Driving on Safari

Weak November dampens car sales in South Africa

A disappointing November put the brakes on any momentum built up in dealer showrooms over the last few months.

Sales of new passenger vehicles in November improved slightly compared to last year, but were down on October. Including commercial vehicles, the South African market is now less than half the size it was at the height of boom in 2006.

One positive for the local industry is plans by local assemblers to up production in 2010, mainly for export.

New vehicle sales figures for November, released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa), showed total market sales for November dropped 5.1% to 34 295 units compared to last month.

November new registrations were down 6.7% on the same period last year. Year-to-date sales indicate a 27.1% decline, the market reaching 364 812 new vehicles sales compared to the 500 562 recorded to November last year.

Passenger car sales declined 7.2% compared to October 2009. The light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment was the only one to show any form of resilience, with just 30 sales less than October. However, LCV sales dropped 22% on November 2008, a trend strongly opposed to the 4.6% gain in sales by passenger cars over the same period.

Importers of Kia and Hyundai, AMH, again provided a fillip to the market. Without this strong showing, November car sales would have been down 3.9% compared to last year. Sales to car rental also underpinned the market, constituting 11.8% of the total.

Export contracts

Nissan South Africa announced last month it is looking to ramp up vehicle production at its Rosslyn manufacturing plant near Pretoria to 45 000 units this financial year, from 33 000 the previous year.

Nissan SA manufactures the popular Renault Sandero, NP200 and Hardbody bakkies at the plant. France’s Renault and Japan’s number two vehicle company have a global alliance.

Greg Field, Nissan SA’s corporate and finance director, told reporters last week the firm is in early negotiations with its parent company about a possible export contract for African and Middle Eastern markets to bring local production to more that 50 000 units. This figure is the minimum production requirement under government’s new industry development programme (APDP), set to replace the current incentive programme in 2012.

Volkswagen of South Africa (VWSA) will export 55 000 new generation Polos next year, doubling this year’s export volume of 28 000 units, of which 19 000 are new Polos.

In 2008, exports from the company’s Uitenhage plant amounted to about 40 000 units, up from the roughly 35 000 vehicles recorded in 2007. The new Polo, awarded 2010 European Car of the Year status this week, will be introduced to the local market in early 2010.

VWSA’s export programme follows a four-year, R3.5bn investment programme, R500m of which will be spent next year. A major part of the investment programme is designed to increase the local content of vehicles. The new Polo would carry 70% South African components, up from less than 40% in the current range.

Year-to-date exports of passenger vehicles from local manufacturers – including Toyota, BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen – are down 36% on last year, reaching just over 117 400. Only 40 400 light commercial vehicles have been exported in 2009, down more than 47%.

[ Story by Frik Els appeared on Fin24.com ]

17 hurt as taxi overturns on M4 near Durban

Seventeen people were injured when a taxi overturned on the M4 in Durban on Tuesday morning, private emergency services said.

Three of the patients were in a serious condition with one having suffered a severe leg injury.

An eight-month old baby had also been in the vehicle but was stable.

The cause of the accident was not yet clear but ER24 and Netcare 911 paramedics warned motorists to expect delays on the highway as they tended to the scene.

- SAPA

Several arrests made in weekend enforcement operation

A weekend operation has resulted in 92 arrests in Sharpeville, Gauteng police said on Sunday.

The arrests were for crimes such as murder, rape, assault, domestic violence, malicious damage to property, drunken driving and public drunkenness, said Inspector Aubrey Moopeloa.

Those arrested for public drunkenness were released after sobering. The others will appear in Vereeniging Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

- SAPA

20 injured in taxi accident on N1

Twenty people were injured when the taxi in which they were travelling rolled on the N1, paramedics said. Chris Botha, spokesman for Netcare 911 said the Toyota Quantum taxi was travelling from Pretoria to Johannesburg when it rolled near the Allandale Road offramp at about 5.45 am on Sunday morning.

“It rolled down the highway and now lies in the middle of the highway,” said Botha.

“It hit the concrete barrier at the side of the road before rolling about five or six times.”

Three of the 20 occupants were in a critical condition, 10 suffered serious injuries and 7 minor injuries.

“We are waiting for a whole lot of ambulances to transport all those patients to hospitals,” said Botha.

Two lanes of the highway was closed for traffic heading from Pretoria to Johannesburg, leaving only one lane open.

Robber killed in Jhb hijacking

A man was shot dead and another wounded during a shootout near Randburg following a car hijacking, Johannesburg police said on Thursday.

The two men had hijacked a woman’s car in Kempton Park on Wednesday night and drove off with her four-year-old son, Inspector Balan Muthan said.

“Police followed a [tracker] signal and caught up with the suspects on Malibongwe Drive, near Randburg. A shootout ensued when the suspects saw the police. One of them was shot dead, while another was wounded.”

Two firearms were recovered from the car and the wounded man was rushed to hospital under police watch. The child was found at the Ivory Park police station and reunited with his mother.

The surviving suspect was charged with hijacking, attempted murder and kidnapping.

- SAPA

Land speed record attempt in SA in 2011

Kimberley – Hakskeen Pan in the Kalahari, near the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park will be the site of a 2011 attempt to break the world land speed record.

The news was announced in Bristol, England, on Tuesday, where the supersonic jet-fuelled racing car was on display.

Northern Cape Premier Hazel Jenkins and a delegation from the province attended the event.

It forms part of the Bloodhound Project, which aims to encourage school pupils to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Location

A computer program analysed space shuttle radar data and satellite images to identify places across the world which would be suitable for an attempt at the world land speed record.

The criteria were that the racing strip must be at least 19.3km long, 100% level, and hard enough to be able to handle a vehicle weighing 6.5 tons while travelling at high speeds.

After visiting the Northern Cape, Andy Green, driver of the Bloodhound SSC (supersonic car), and his team initially chose the well-known Verneuk Pan, but realised it was practically impossible to clean up the stony surface.

After a thorough investigation, Hakseen Pan, located about 400km north of Verneuk Pan, was then chosen. It is a short distance from the Mier and Rietfontein settlements.

The Northern Cape government has agreed to build a 19.3km long, straight, racing track on the clay pan’s dusty surface.

The Bloodhound SSC drag racer underwent ten design developments. An EJ200 jet engine (1 000kg) from a Typhoon fighter jet was placed on top of a prototype hybrid rocket weighing 400kg – the largest built in Britain yet.

Equal to 180 Formula 1 racing cars

The rocket can generate a force of 122kN. Along with the EJ200 jet engine (90kN propulsion), the race car has 212kN force, which is equal to 135 000 horse power or 180 Formula 1 racing cars.

Air wing Commanding Officer Green, an experienced fighter jet pilot, designed the cabin. It is based on the cabin of his previous world land speed record vehicle, Thrust SSC.

Green, the current land speed record holder, and the first person to break the sound barrier on the ground, will try reach speeds of over 1 600km/h on Hakskeen Pan.

Jenkins says she is very excited that the Northern Cape will get an opportunity to be part of the exchange of technology and science education programmes through the Bloodhound project.

“It will expose our youth to enormous opportunities. The province and country will benefit from the economic assets brought about by the project.”

[Story by Frans Coetzee, Volksblad]

Study finds petrol fumes cause road rage

Breathing in fumes from petrol made lab rats more aggressive, a finding that has wide implications for urban pollution, according to a study published on Tuesday.

Cairo University researcher Amal Kinawy exposed three groups of rats to either clean air, vapour from leaded petrol or vapour from unleaded petrol.

Dissection of the rats showed that those exposed to petrol (US gasoline), had big fluctuations in a key group of neurotransmitters – chemicals used for exchanging messages between neurons – in three areas of the brain.

In addition, rats exposed to unleaded petrol showed indications of neurological change. Their brain cells looked like they had been damaged by rogue molecules called free radicals.

Just as striking was that the rats exposed to either kind of fuel were more aggressive, spending more time in belligerent postures and carrying out more attacks, compared to the clean-air group.

Kinawy speculates that people chronically exposed to urban air polluted by traffic emissions may also be at risk of heightened aggression, although further research is needed to confirm this parallel.

“Millions of people every day are exposed to gasoline fumes while refuelling their cars,” she said in a press release.

“Exposure can also come from exhaust fumes and, particularly in the developing world, deliberate gasoline sniffing is a means of getting high.”

Her study appears online in BMC Physiology, an open-access peer-reviewed journal published by the British-based BioMed Central.

- SAPA

View the Arrive Alive road safety website for more info on road rage and the dangers of aggressive driving!

Out of control car slams into man, house in Heidelberg

A 23-year-old man was killed in Ratanda, Heidelberg, on Sunday, when a car smashed into a house.

Police spokesperson Constable Tikoane Sonopo said the driver of a Volkswagen Golf lost control in Acacia Street in Extension 23 and ran over the pedestrian and his cousin, before crashing into the bedroom and sitting room of a house.

The pedestrian was killed instantly, while his cousin – also in his 20s – suffered serious injuries.

“The driver also suffered serious injuries and they were both taken to hospital,” said Sonopo.

House had to be demolished

A second occupant of the vehicle allegedly ran away from the scene and police are looking for him.

Sonopo said the house was so badly damaged that it had to be demolished.

Sonopo couldn’t say whether the driver was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident. He said, however, that he was speeding in the 60km/h speed zone.

“He will be charged with culpable homicide and possibly malicious damage to property,” said Sonopo.

- SAPA