1,500 killed on SA roads during festive season
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy says the country still has
a long way to go to reduce the carnage on the roads.
On Monday, she revealed that 1,502 people died on South Africa's roads from 1,234 fatal crashes during the festive season.
"The number of fatalities represents a year-on-year increase of 5.3% (70) compared to the 2023/24 festive season, with a 4.2% (50) increase in the number of crashes that involved fatalities."
Delivering the festive season road safety report, Creecy said the number of road deaths over the period went up in six provinces: KZN, Limpopo, the Free State, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, and the North West.
"The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State recorded increases of 70, 54 and 21 fatalities as compared to compared to the previous year while Gauteng, Western Cape and Mpumalanga recorded decreases of 76, 23 and 15 fatalities, respectively."
Eighteen major crashes claimed 134 lives, and minibuses were involved in more than half of the major accidents.
READ: 10,000 died on SA roads in 2024 - Creecy
Creecy said pedestrian fatalities remain a huge concern.
"Forty-one per cent or almost half of all road fatalities are pedestrians. The highest percentage of pedestrian fatalities is in the big urban centres of Gauteng, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal. Gauteng had the highest pedestrian fatalities at 63.84%, followed by Western Cape with 53.9% and KwaZulu-Natal with 44.33%."
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