The Minister of Transport, Ms. Sindisiwe Chikunga released the 2023/24 festive season road statistics at a media briefing held at the N1 Grasmere Toll Gate, Gauteng on Wednesday, 24January 2024. The Minister was joined by key stakeholders in the road traffic sector, including representatives from law enforcement, government agencies and road safety organisations will join the minister during the briefing.
In her speech, the Minister mentioned that most fatalities were recorded on Sundays which is a new trend. Human factors contributed 80,8% of the crashes, environmental factors contributed 10,4% as a result of heavy rainfall and storms that had a big impact on road use, and this is whereas vehicle factors contributed 8.8%. Also, 40.9% of those who died were pedestrians, passengers accounted for 33.6%, drivers 24.6% and cyclists 0.8%.
According to the statistics, Eastern Cape is the only province that managed to surpass the target set for it to reduce fatalities by at least 18.6%. The provincial summary of the statistics is as follows:
- Free State recorded a 27.4% decline.
- Eastern Cape recorded a 21.5% decline.
- Northern Cape recorded a 15.7% decline.
- Limpopo recorded an 8.4 % decline.
- North West recorded a 2.1% decline.
- Gauteng recorded a 7.6% increase.
- KwaZulu Natal recorded a 4.2% increase.
- Mpumalanga recorded a 9.7% increase,
- Western Cape recorded a 22.6% increase.
Minister Chikunga commended the traffic officers, members of the South African Police Services, and emergency medical services for their sterling work, commitment, and dedication during the festive season period. She further appreciated the members of the media for ensuring that road safety messages reached as many people as possible in rural and urban areas and in different languages.
In her closing, Chikunga stated that the Department will have a closer engagement with the Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces as better resourced provinces to understand what needs to be done for them to improve their performance.