1 500 people died on SA roads over the festive season

More than 1 500 people died on South African roads during the 2024 festive season, a 5.3% increase over last year.

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy announced the 2024/2025 festive season death toll on Monday.

“Tragically, South Africa witnessed 1 502 deaths resulting from 1 234 fatal crashes during the 2024/25 festive season,” she said.

Creecy added that this increase cancels out the incremental strides that were made in recent years.

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Increase in provinces

KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Nothern Cape and North West recorded an increase in the number of fatalities in the 2024/2025 festive season than in 2023/2024.

“The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State recorded increases of 70, 54 and 21 fatalities as compared to 2023/24,” she added.

Meanwhile, Gauteng, Western Cape and Mpumalanga fatality rates decreased by 76, 23, and 15 in the festive season.

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Pedestrian fatality rate

Creecy said pedestrian fatalities remain a huge concern, as 41% of road fatalities are pedestrians.

The highest percentage of pedestrian fatalities 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 minister urged pedestrians to follow these guidelines:

• Do not consume alcohol and then walk on the roads;
• Ensure that you are visible at night and walk in well-lit areas;
• Avoid jaywalking; and,
• Cross the road at a pedestrian crossing or where it is safe to do so.

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Reckless driving

Human conduct was responsible for 87% of collisions, including hit-and-runs, jaywalking, drowsiness, loss of vehicle control, speed, intoxicated driving, and reckless overtaking.

Creecy announced that to combat drunken driving, speeding, and other moving violations, officers arrested over 9 550 motorists, with 3 840 individuals specifically taken into custody for drunken driving.

“A total of 414 drivers were arrested for driving at high speed and five amongst them were driving at excessive speeds of between 200km/h to well above 240km/h,” she said.

The highest speedster was arrested in Gauteng driving at 245km/h in a BMW Sedan on N1 near Honeydew, on 18 December 2024.

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Motorists urged to exercise care and patience

“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.”

Furthermore, Creecy said she plans to focus on improving road user behaviour by enforcing safe speeds and enhancing emergency response systems.

“I want to appeal to motorists to exercise care and patience on our roads but, at the same time, those who break the law must know that our traffic officers across the country will continue to crack down on those who don’t care about the lives of others,” Creecy concluded.

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