Another vehicle has been hit by a brick on Cape Town's N2, this time in the early hours of a Monday morning, shortly before the Engen garage on the highway. Crime commentator Yusuf Abramjee flagged the incident on social media, and it has reignited a debate that refuses to go away: how safe is the city's main airport corridor for motorists?
Details are still thin — it's not clear whether the driver was hurt or exactly how the attack unfolded. What is clear is the frustration. Residents and drivers have flooded social media with calls for action, with one popular suggestion being to fully enclose the pedestrian bridges that cross the N2, which many see as a faster and cheaper fix than building a full wall along the route. Others have pointed to access points from nearby properties and informal paths onto the freeway, calling for more fencing and better control of pedestrian movement.
This isn't an isolated event. The stretch of N2 heading towards Cape Town International Airport has been nicknamed the "Hell Run" because of repeated stone- and brick-throwing attacks. Some victims have been injured when objects came through their windows, and some incidents have escalated into robberies and hijackings. In December 2025, three men were arrested for the murder of Karin van Aardt during a smash-and-grab on Jakes Gerwel Drive near the airport.
The numbers suggest things may be improving, slowly. Figures from Sanral show 621 crime-related events in the priority zone in 2023, 564 in 2024, and 362 in 2025 at the time of its report. A downward trend, yes — but the latest brick incident shows the risk hasn't disappeared, and calls are growing for better lighting, surveillance, fencing and policing around bridges and other vulnerable spots.
For anyone renting a car in Cape Town, this matters. The N2 is the road most visitors take between the airport and the city, so it's worth knowing the risk zone and driving it with a bit of extra care. Keep windows up, especially at night or in the early morning when most of these attacks have happened, avoid leaving valuables visible, and if you're arriving on a late flight, consider whether the short drive is worth the stress or a transfer service might be the easier call. Keep to well-lit lanes where possible and stay alert near bridges and on-ramps.
Cape Town remains one of the world's great city destinations — Table Mountain, the Winelands and the Cape Peninsula are all within easy reach — and the vast majority of visitors pass through without trouble. But road safety on the airport corridor is a genuine, ongoing issue that locals have been campaigning about for years, and the latest incident shows why. Travellers who know about it can plan around it, whether that means timing airport transfers for daylight, using ride services instead of self-driving at night, or simply staying switched on for that stretch of highway.
