I’ve spent nearly two decades behind the wheel of ultra-heavy trucks on South African roads. In that time, I’ve seen enough blood on the tar, burnt-out trucks, broken families, and crime scenes to understand one thing very clearly. Truck driving is one of the most dangerous professions in this country, and anyone who says otherwise has never spent a night parked in the dark on the N1 near Colesberg or crawled down Van Reenen with fading brakes and a prayer in your throat.
People think trucking is an opportunity, freedom and good money. They don’t see the fear, the trauma, and the daily fight to stay alive. And this reality is exactly why many women are staying far away from the industry. A few brave sisters have stepped up and are doing a damn impressive job, but most are watching the headlines and saying, “Not me. I want to see my family again.”
Crime: The biggest enemy on South African roads
Ask any long-distance truck driver what keeps them awake at night, and they won’t say gearbox failures or steep passes. It’s criminals.
Drivers are being robbed, beaten and murdered on our roads every week. It happens at breakdown spots, border queues, dark lay-bys and quiet detours. You stop to fix a tyre, next thing you’re on the ground with a knife at your throat. I’ve seen colleagues stripped of everything, left to die next to their rigs.
Now, picture a young female driver alone at night with that reality. It’s not just robbery she fears. It’s being violated, bullied or targeted. Anyone who thinks women are staying out of trucking because they don’t like hard work knows nothing about this job. They’re staying out because they want to stay alive.
Protests, shutdowns and trucks turned into weapons
In South Africa, trucks have become bargaining chips during protests and unrest.
Trucks get torched, blocked, stoned, hijacked and used as barricades while drivers sit trapped inside, praying to make it out alive.
Shutdowns on routes like the N3 have seen groups remove keys, threaten drivers and force them to block highways. We’ve all seen trucks burning on Addo Road and chaos exploding in minutes. Those rigs don’t burn themselves. There is a human being inside begging to go home.
Women see these viral videos and ask themselves the same question every trucker asks in silence. Is any salary worth dying for?
Deadly crashes and the trauma that never leaves
Anyone who has driven the N3, N1 or N2 for long enough has seen things they will never unsee.
Brake failures on passes, fog pile-ups, head-on collisions, rollovers and jack-knifes. One mechanical fault or one reckless motorist overtaking on a blind rise can end five lives in a second.
Truck crashes are violent. They tear families apart and leave drivers mentally destroyed. Many of us know more dead colleagues than living retirees. When the public sees flames, they see a headline. Drivers see trauma that follows them forever.
Another reality we live with every day is sharing the road with reckless drivers. Small cars cutting in front of ultra-heavy vehicles, sudden braking, illegal overtaking and speeding through blind rises turn highways into war zones. Many of the worst truck crashes are caused by motorists who have no understanding of the weight, stopping distance or handling dynamics of a fully loaded interlink.
And it’s not only cars. Some fellow truck drivers are forced to work under inhumane conditions with no proper rest, unrealistic delivery times and pressure from companies that don’t care about safety. When a tired driver or a stressed rookie makes a desperate move, we all pay the price.
It doesn’t matter if you work for a company that respects every safety law. If the drivers around you don’t, you’re in danger. One reckless driver can end a life in seconds and leave a professional driver carrying trauma and blame for something they never caused.
Long hours, pressure and zero respect
The law talks beautifully about regulated hours and rest periods, but reality is different. Drivers are pushed beyond human limits. You sit for hours at depots with no facilities, then you’re expected to make impossible deadlines. Many companies pay per load, encouraging drivers to risk fatigue to survive financially.
You sleep on the side of the road because there’s no safe parking. You eat junk because there are no healthy options. You shower with a bottle because facilities are filthy or nonexistent.
And instead of respect, the public loots your load while you lie injured in the cab. People film instead of helping. Other drivers trap you for social media humiliation.
What dignity is left in that?
Read | Wide Awake Danger: Why Haven’t We Passed Laws to Combat Driver Fatigue?
In countries like the US and across Europe, truck driving is considered a respected and protected profession. Drivers there enjoy proper regulation, real enforcement of rest periods, safe overnight parking, secure truck stops, and strong law enforcement support. Their governments take driver safety seriously, and the industry is structured to protect the human being behind the wheel.
Here at home, we are still begging for the basics. That’s the difference. The danger is not built into the profession, but South Africa has managed to make it very dangerous.
Why women are not entering the trucking industry in large numbers
Women see everything happening in this industry. They see hijackings, torched trucks, shutdowns, protests, looting, fatigue, burnout and death. They hear drivers being blamed before investigations start. They know there is almost no support for mental health, trauma, or safety.
They are not scared of hard work. They are scared of not making it home alive.
Until South Africa fixes security, working conditions and respect for truckers, we cannot pretend this is a welcoming industry. It is fighting for survival and burying too many.
Truck drivers are not machines. They are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and breadwinners simply trying to make a living.
And every time a driver climbs into a cab in this country, they must ask themselves one question: “Am I coming back home alive?”
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