Drive to survive — the cost of SA’s road safety crisis

‘To ensure greater safety on our roads, and reduce the devastating toll road accidents have on lives and livelihoods, we aim to reduce road fatalities by 45% by 2029 so we reach the UN target of halving road fatalities by 2030,” said Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy during the ministry’s budget vote in Parliament on Wednesday, 2 July 2025.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) puts the crash bill at R186-billion a year - about 2.8% of GDP - well above the global average for middle-income states. 

Statistics SA shows about 6,423 road deaths were officially recorded in 2019 on death certificates. However, the RTMC State of Road Safety 2023 and international data estimate the real annual toll closer to between 11,883 and 12,000.

For context, that places South African road fatalities (25 per 100,000) at levels worse than countries such as Botswana (~18 per 100,000), the UK (~3 per 100,000) and only slightly better than Mozambique (~31 per 100,000).

“We will never have accurate stats of how many accidents are caused by unroadworthy vehicles … we cannot even quantify the cost,” says the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (Outa’s) Rudie Heyneke, one of the lead authors of a 2025 report on corruption allegations at vehicle testing stations (VTS). 

The Stats SA record confirms the 25-39 age group bears the brunt - a direct drain on households, employers and the tax base, let alone the human cost. Heyneke makes this point clear: “It’s not a direct expense, but it’s my money, it’s your money, that goes into financing that ambulance, that hospital. It’s a huge cost to the country.”

Why is this happening? Law, tests and stations

The National Road Traffic Act of 1996, Regulation 138 and SANS 10047/10216 make it clear: every car must pass a physical inspection at change of ownership, with annual tests for taxis and trucks, and semi-annual for buses.

“Passenger vehicles must be tested only with the change of ownership … so you can think that there’s a lot more that can go wrong” says Heyneke.

Many of the vehicles on the road today might fail a roadworthiness inspection, and requiring more frequent checks would indeed make our roads safer.

However, even when Certificate of Roadworthiness (CoR) checks are required, the answer is not that simple.

Second testing

The problem, as Heyneke explains, is that many testing centres are vehicles for corruption. For example, if your vehicle fails a test in Gauteng, you can skip repairs or buy a pass in Limpopo or North West, a process enabled by a loophole in the way we manage vehicle roadworthiness data.

Roadworthiness fraud has become such an issue that Minister Creecy requested a probe be launched by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

The National Traffic Information System (NaTIS) does not log failed test data or block a second pass, even if a pass is registered on the system within minutes after failing in another province.

The RTMC was not able to provide data on the number of fraudulent CoRs logged and voided in response to written questions by Daily Maverick and referred our queries to the Department of Transport.

The department had not responded to any of Daily Maverick’s questions by the time of publication almost a week later. 

Outa’s 2025 probe shows dozens of cross-border “pass buys” every month, heavily used by taxis, buses and mine trucks.

Stats SA data show only 54% of Gauteng’s road deaths happen where the victim lives - mirroring the same cross-border test routes. “Your car dies in Gauteng, but it’s born ‘safe’ in Limpopo - that’s the scam.”

Private stations, public conflict

Since the 1990s, private vehicle testing stations have multiplied to boost capacity - but oversight has fallen by the wayside. Limpopo now issues far more CoRs than its national fleet share of about 6% would justify, according to Outa data.

Many station owners are also fleet operators, second-hand dealers or local politicians - an obvious conflict. The SIU’s investigation falls under Proclamation 191 of 2024, signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, covering officials, owners and syndicates.

Unsafe roads, bad cars, a perfect storm

The 2025 Africa Status Report on Road Safety shows South Africa’s roads often lack lighting, signage and routine repair - add that to our decaying fleet plus fraud guarantees failures.

Many “driver error” fatalities are actually mechanical failures - worn brakes, broken steering, bald tyres that never saw a real inspection lane.

Stats SA shows 27% of victims die in hospital and 13% are dead on arrival - strained public health infrastructure means that weak trauma care and rescue make the damage worse.

International data confirm countries enforcing periodic inspections cut fatality rates by half or more. The WHO’s Global Status Report on Road Safety of 2023 shows that countries with more frequent mandatory public roadworthiness inspections, which are centrally logged, consistently see fewer road fatalities over time, particularly with regard to mechanical failure-based crashes.

The UK mandates annual testing, while Japan and Germany mandate biannual roadworthiness tests – and the numbers all demonstrate the clear efficacy in reducing crashes and fatalities.

There has been a welcome decrease in road fatalities this year, with Easter weekend being notably calmer, with a 45.6% change since last year. “We commend all those who played a role in this outcome,” said Automobile Association (AA) CEO Bobby Ramagwede in a statement earlier this year noting the improvement. “Through coordinated efforts, we are finally beginning to see measurable improvements in road safety.” DM

Until the loopholes close, every fake CoR is potentially a road crash tax that’s quietly draining nearly 3% of South Africa’s GDP - but until paper matches metal, we’re paying in blood and billions. DM