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FILE | Scene of an accident in Carlswald, Midrand, Gauteng on March 31, 2023.
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy says last year, the cost of road crashes sat at more than R200 billion.
She says road crashes have an impact on society and also hits the economy hard.
Creecy revealed the figures during the 2024 Road Safety Campaign at the N1 Carousel, in Pretoria on Sunday.
“The impact is measured in terms of human lives lost, pain, grief and suffering and comes at a significant cost to the economy. In addition to the human cost, the cost of crashes includes vehicle repair costs and related incident costs. Last year, road crashes cost our economy no less than R205 billion. That translates into a whopping 2.74% of GDP for 2023.”
Meanwhile, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) says 20 high-accident hotspots have been identified across the nine provinces and there is a strategic plan in place to try and reduce the number of incidents this festive season.
The hotspots include Mpumalanga’s R573 at KwaMhlanga and Gauteng’s R21 at Kempton Park.
Road Traffic Management Corporation CEO Makhosini Msibi says, “Our strategic deployment first starts with those areas but over and above, for this year we are enforcing a 24/7 strategic plan because most of the accidents find expression and occur during the night or early hours of the morning when law enforcement is not there.” – Additional Reporting by Lerato Makola
TRAFFIC | Launch of Festive Road Safety Campaign
