World Cup 2010 Precautions

November 13 - The time period leading up to the World Cup next year will be a particularly busy one, and it is predicted that March to July will be strenuous on the majority of South Africans.

School holidays, a global media circus and hundreds of thousands of overseas visitors puts South Africans more at risk in many elements, from personal safety to missed flights.

The Chief Operating Officer at Alexander Forbes Risk Services, Julie Fredericks said: "It was only when I plotted all the events happening next year on a graph to help our staff plan their movements did I realize the scale of the challenge."

The statistics are truly mind boggling. The World Cup is an event fifteen times larger than the 1995 Rugby World Cup and 220,000 visitors from overseas are expected to flood the country, in addition to 180,000 African visitors.

Transport will become nightmarish, with an extra 100,000 people using public transport or flights on any given day.

Traffic congestion, delayed flights, pick pocketing, burglaries and drunken driving are just some of the dangers facing local South Africans during the World Cup.

"Advising various clients on risks, and sensible precautions, during their business continuity planning sessions has forced us to find, or at least extrapolate, some of the critical numbers," said Fredericks.

South Africans were advised to restrict their travelling unless it was absolute crucial, and to plan well ahead in advance as any changes to an itinerary may become very expensive.

A little forethought, good planning and the avoidance of risk could ensure that South Africans keep themselves and their loved ones safe during an unusually busy time for the entire country.