– First of all South Africa drives on the left.  If you are from a left driving country, or you have driven on the left before and feel reasonably competent, you will be fine.  If you have never driven on the left, I would suggest that Johannesburg would perhaps not be the best place to start.

– Speed limits are high compared to most European and North American countries.  Most residential streets have a speed limit of 60 km/h and the highways quickly go up to 120 km/h.  Saying that, most of my driving in rush hour was in stop and go traffic.

– The hard shoulder on the highway appears to be used as a driving lane. If you are going too slow, drivers in the left lane will expect you to move over to the shoulder to let them pass.  They may thank you by flashing their hazard warning lights after passing.  Be careful when you move over to the shoulder, as some of them end abruptly.

– When traffic lights turn red, I estimate at least 3 or 4 cars continue through, sometimes at the dislike of cross traffic!  Right turns are equally bad.  I was honked at because I did not go through a red light to make a right turn even though there was no traffic coming towards me 🙂

– There are certainly rough areas, but in the daytime I never felt threatened while driving and there were always lots of other motorists on the road with me.  I never tried driving at night and I do not think I recommend it unless you know exactly which areas are good or bad.  There are still about 300 carjackings a day in Johannesburg but I never felt there was an issue during the daytime.

– I drove into Seweto to take a bike tour.  The biggest issue in the townships seem to be non functional traffic lights, either because of a power cut, or because of vandalism.  In the latter it may be hard to identify that there should be traffic lights, since they have been torn down!  I suggest being cautious at intersections even if you have no stop sign or traffic light.

– Finally, parking.  You usually find some nice South African that will watch your car for you.  They expect a little tip.  R5 or R10 seems to do the trick, assuming the car is still there when you get back of course!

I would say all in all, driving in JNB was not half as bad as I thought it may be, and once you relax it can be kinda fun 😉