More than 500 people have died on South African roads since the start of the festive season on December 1 2024, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy said during a media briefing on Thursday.
Creecy said 512 people have died on South Africa’s roads to date.
She said this is a 2,6% increase in fatalities compared to the same period last year. This time last year, 499 people had died on the country’s roads.
Pedestrians account for the highest number
Creecy said majority of those who died were pedestrians (45.6%). This was followed by
passengers (26.8%), drivers (26.7%) and cyclists (0.74%).
She said a total of 439 fatal crashes have been recorded. This is a 3.1% increase
compared to 426 fatal crashes recorded in the same period last year.
Creecy was speaking at media briefing on the N1, Touws River in Cape Town, Western Cape where she was providing an update on the 2024 festive season road safety campaign.
She provided an update on the mid-Festive Season preliminary road safety report. The report contained updates on road safety statistics, enforcement measures, and progress in ensuring safer roads during the festive season.
Gauteng, KZN lead in crashes, fatalities
This year’s festive season runs from December 1 2024 to January 31 2025.
Creecy said Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Limpopo accounted for 70% of all road fatalities during this period.
From a provincial perspective on crashes and fatalities, the following breakdown has been collated:
- Gauteng had 96 fatalities from 90 crashes
- KwaZulu-Natal 77 fatalities from 71 crashes
- Western Cape 74 fatalities from 61 crashes
- Eastern Cape 54 fatalities from 47 crashes
- Free State 52 fatalities from 33 crashes
- Mpumalanga 44 fatalities from 41 crashes
- North West 36 fatalities from 31 crashes
- Limpopo 58 fatalities from 47 crashes
- Northern Cape 21 fatalities from 18 crashes
“Let us express our deepest condolences to all the families, friends and communities that are experiencing the pain and misery of loss at this time and hope that we all find support and strength to care for those injured among us.
Change in approach, intensifying efforts
“Following an evaluation meeting with all MECs on Tuesday evening, we have agreed to change our approach. This will be effective for the remainder of the festive season.
“In the coming days, we will intensify our efforts to drastically reduce pedestrian and passenger fatalities. This we will do by shifting our focus from the main arterial routes – to increased policing inside suburbs, townships and villages. Law enforcement operations focusing on drunken driving and the wearing of seatbelts will also be increased,” said Creecy.
She added that law enforcement authorities will move the focus from roadblocks to visible patrols. This will be on all routes, including alternative or secondary routes.
Meanwhile, Creecy said a total of 575, 227 vehicles were stopped in 561 roadblocks. These were staged nationwide from December 1 2024 to date.
The number of arrests has increased from 2, 386 recorded in 2023 to 3063.
“This again confirms our view that there has been an improvement in the enforcement of the rules of the road,” said Creecy.
Drunk driver arrests
She said a total of 941 drivers were arrested for drunk driving. While 230 were arrested for driving at excessive speeds.
Creecy added that a total of 98 pedestrians were arrested for crossing the roads where it is not safe to do so.
“We remain concerned about the high number of people who continue to drive under the influence of alcohol. And pedestrians who use roads recklessly,” said Creecy.
On Monday, 15 people died when a Toyota Quantum Minibus collided head-on with a Hyundai Creta.
The fatal crash occurred at 5.30am on the N9, about 30km from Graaff-Reinett, in the Eastern Cape.
All six occupants from the Hyundai and nine occupants from the Quantum died.
Eleven persons from the Quantum sustained various types of injuries and were transported to nearby hospitals.
It has been established that the Hyundai Creta was traveling from Middelburg to Graaff-Reinett. And the Quantum was traveling in the opposite direction towards Middelburg when the collision occurred.
The cause of the crash is not known at this stage and will be the subject of an investigation.
