Thursday, December 10, 1998 Published at 21:53 GMT
Firing on all cylinders
A test driver disposes with some local difficulty
By Jeremy Vine in Johannesburg
Car drivers in South Africa are being offered a new method of preventing hijacking.
A person confronted by an armed hijacker simply presses a pedal and the "blaster" ignites gas that shoots from the under-side of the car.
Doctors say the device is lethal - but the police have confirmed it is perfectly legal.
People pull up at traffic lights, they stop their car and then someone comes up to the window with a gun and tells them to get out.
Charles Fourie, who invented the blaster, says drivers should put their hands up and then step on the gas.
"This is a case of opting for the lesser of two evils," Mr Fourie said.
"Either you get shot, your wife is raped, your child is murdered - against him getting burned."
No legal problems
Police say they cannot see any legal problems with the blaster - so long as the right people are blasted.
"I don't think the average person on the street has any concept of the appalling damage that burns cause," Dr Boffard said.
"The result of that is permanent, extensive and disfiguring."
"Innocent people are going to get caught.
" That's unacceptable."