Watch: Quick-thinking Durban driver eludes brazen hijackers [video]

In a video posted to Twitter on 17 December 2019, a driver via their dashboard camera can be seen driving up the Lamontville offramp in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). 

As the driver, with passenger/s, approaches the robot, an unknown man, appearing to have an accomplice in the background starts running towards the car with a gun in hand, aiming it at the driver. 

The driver is then forced to reverse down the offramp to avoid being hijacked, robbed or killed. 

Driver reverses down offramp to avoid danger

In the video posted on social media on 17 December 2019, the driver with a passenger/s can be seen driving up the Lamontville offramp next to Mobeni in KZN. 

As the car drives up the offramp, a casual conversation between the passengers can be heard. 

As they stop behind another car, waiting at a red robot, a man suddenly starts running towards the right side of the car, towards the driver’s seat with a gun pointed at the windscreen. 

The passenger/s immediately start shouting while the driver proceeds to start reversing before the unknown man can shoot or break the window. 

Once the driver begins to reverse back down the offramp, the man looks as though he is willing to run after the car. At first, he can be seen running after the car but then decides against it and runs away, down the embankment of the offramp.

A second man can be seen behind him in the background but as the vehicle reverses, the view of the man becomes unclear.

A close-up image of the man with the gun was caught by the dashboard camera and is making its rounds on social media. 

Watch: Driver avoids hijacking

WATCH this incident took place at the weekend at the
Lamontville offramp South Coast Road KZN. pic.twitter.com/M4ixOa0SMf

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) December 17, 2019

Caught on the dashcam. #Gunman pic.twitter.com/eBJ4tGHtI3

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) December 17, 2019

Twitter reactions 

“I got scared just watching this. Thank God the occupants weren’t hurt.”

“Dude the sight of a gun can disturb your thinking abilities.”

“That bridge is one of the most dangerous we have. In fact, that whole Mobeni area is bad!”

“Like I said before I ain’t stopping at the robots if it’s not safe to do so.”

“Props to the driver for remaining calm and dealing with the situation.”

“If there’s one thing that saved them it’s the fact that they had their doors locked, you can hear the sound the door makes when the hijacker attempts to open it. Quick thinking to reverse also as panicked as they were.”

“How on earth will Cyril Ramaphosa and Bheki Cele ever get rid of unlicensed firearms in this country? Criminals know they will not go to jail, or be out ASAP. Amnesty is not going to work!! Proper policing has to be done. Build more jails!!”