
Despite heightened law enforcement and road safety campaigns over the December/January festive season, the authorities registered an increase in accidents and fatalities on South Africa’s roads.
The country witnessed an appalling 1,502 deaths from 1,234 fatal crashes, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 5.3% in terms of fatalities and 4.2% in terms of the number of crashes.
Six provinces recorded higher fatalities in the 2024/25 festive season versus 2023/24, namely KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, Northern Cape, and North West.
The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Free State saw increases of 70, 54, and 21 fatalities, respectively, when compared to 2023/24.
Meanwhile, Gauteng, Western Cape, and Mpumalanga posted decreases of 76, 23, and 15 fatalities.
Rather shockingly, the 18 biggest accidents of the period resulted in a combined 134 deaths, and minibuses were involved in approximately 53% of major crashes.
Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy highlighted that pedestrian fatalities remained a huge concern over the festive season.
As much as 41% of all road deaths were pedestrians, the highest percentage of which were recorded in Gauteng, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal which are the most populous provinces in the country in terms of vehicles and people.
Gauteng had the highest pedestrian fatalities at 63.84%, followed by Western Cape with 53.9% and KwaZulu-Natal with 44.33%.
“The preliminary statistics are deeply disturbing but these numbers on paper don’t tell us anything about the human story, about the tragedies which struck so many families across the country, about the pain of losing a loved one to a road crash,” said Creecy.
“All the more disturbing, then, is the fact that most crashes and deaths are a result of human factors.”
The minister emphasised that 87% of crashes happened due to human behaviour, including hit-and-runs, jaywalking, fatigue, loss of control over vehicles, speed, drunken driving, and reckless overtaking.
Looking at the bigger picture, traffic authorities across the country performed over 997 roadblocks during the period under review, issuing an astounding 711,184 fines for various traffic offences in the process.
As many as 23,607 fines were issued to drivers for failing to wear seatbelts, while another 16,925 motorists were fined for using cell phones while driving.
A further 16,527 vehicles were found to be unroadworthy and issued with traffic fines and had their motor vehicle licence discs removed, particularly in areas where vehicles could not be impounded due to a lack of impoundment facilities.
In areas where these facilities were accessible, a total of 8,917 motor vehicles were impounded.
Officers also arrested 9,550 motorists, with 3,840 of those being put in handcuffs for drunken driving and 414 for speeding.
Among the speedsters, five were driving at between 200km/h to well above 240km/h. The biggest offender was arrested in Gauteng on 18 December after being caught driving at 245km/h in a BMW Sedan on the N1 near Honeydew.
“On behalf of the national Department of Transport, provincial MECs and their departments, and all law enforcement agencies, I call on the courts to treat these cases with the seriousness they deserve,” said Creecy.
“There must be consequences for drivers who break the law with wanton disregard for the lives of other road users, whether it is for speeding or drunk driving or any other offence which warrants arrest and prosecution.”
24/7 traffic policing and more
Creecy noted that the Department of Transport and other road authorities will continue clamping down on scofflaws through new initiatives aimed at changing driver behaviour.
“The number of people who died on our roads this festive season has increased because people continued to behave badly,” said the minister.
“In spite of our pleas and warnings, and notwithstanding our efforts to clamp down on irresponsible and reckless behaviour, it is clear that many road users – both drivers and pedestrians – continue to act without regard for the lives of others.”
Creecy has thus asked the provincial authorities to conduct a detailed analysis of their respective statistics and come up with a clear plan to improve safety, which will be discussed at the end of January.
The Department will furthermore direct efforts at changing the behaviour of road users, which includes designing and engineering safer roads, enforcing safe speeds in high-congestion areas, and enhancing emergency response systems and access to quality trauma care in collaboration with the Department of Health.
“By reducing response times and improving the availability of critical care, we can increase survival rates and reduce the long-term impacts of road traffic injuries,” said Creecy.
The implementation of 24/7 traffic policing is on the agenda, too.
“During the festive season we agreed to release National Traffic Police resources to provinces, to intensify road safety communication and education campaigns and strengthen monitoring of our law enforcement operations especially at night,” concluded Creecy.
“This approach will serve as a blueprint for our road safety activities but will only succeed if it is consistent all year round, especially on weekends and in every province across the country.”
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