
Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy (Photo credit: iAfrica)
The Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, has shared shocking numbers about road safety in South Africa during the festive season.
In December 2024, a road safety campaign was launched for the festive season. The goal of the campaign was to work with South Africans to improve driving habits and strengthen law enforcement. It focused on promoting responsible driving, keeping pedestrians safe, education, and teamwork.
All security measures were put in place around the country to ensure safety on the roads. Local, provincial, and national traffic authorities worked together tirelessly, along with the South African Police Service (SAPS), as well as several community groups and organisations to educate and bring awareness to civils during the crucial time we were in.
With close to 1000 roadblocks countrywide, you would hope that road users would respect traffic laws and the rules of the road more, however, statistics prove otherwise. In the last month and a half, a total of 771,148 fines were issued to road users, for various traffic offences. Some fines were for offenses as simple as not wearing a seatbelt and, cell phone use while driving.
In addition to that South Africa experienced a tragic amount of 1,502 deaths, with 1,234 of those a result of fatal crashes. 87% of these crashes occurred due to fatigue, speed, drunken driving, and reckless overtaking, amongst other things. Pedestrians also remain a concern for road fatalities.
Creecy stressed that these stats are evidence that South Africa still has a long way to go to reduce the carnage on our roads. She further said that South Africans urgently need to change their behaviour on the roads, by respecting the law and following rules of the road.
Honourable mentions went out to the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO), the private sector, and every civilian, officer, and organisations that was part of this significant campaign.