31/07/2026
I drove into a hospital parking area in the east of Pretoria and saw this sign:
High Risk Vehicles Parking
I sat with that for a moment.
Not because the sign was shocking.
Because it wasn’t.
It was so ordinary.
A normal sign.
In a normal parking area.
At a normal hospital.
On an ordinary day.
And maybe that is the part that stayed with me.
Crime has become so matter-of-fact in South Africa that we now create systems around it almost without thinking.
Separate parking for high-risk vehicles.
Extra security at shopping centres.
Guards at boom gates.
Tracking devices.
Panic buttons.
Electric fences.
Cameras.
We hardly pause anymore.
We adjust.
We plan around it.
We build it into the way we live and work.
And in one sense, that is resilience.
South Africans are incredibly good at adapting.
But sometimes I wonder whether we have adapted so well that we forget to feel the weight of what has become normal.
A vehicle being considered “high risk” is not just a line on a list.
It means people are being targeted.
It means businesses are carrying more pressure.
It means families think differently about where they park, when they travel, and what they drive.
It means risk has quietly moved from something distant to something built into everyday decision-making.
As an insurance specialist, I look at risk every day.
But as a person, signs like this still make me stop and think.
Not with panic.
Not with drama.
Just with the quiet realisation that the world we are insuring is changing because the world we are living in is changing.
The Risk Always feels Distant.... Until it Becomes Yours
Have you also noticed how many risks we now treat as “normal” simply because we have had to adapt?
Contact us for professional assistance.
www.inscorp.co.za
012 661 3007
[email protected]
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