“We commend Gauteng province on the arrest of 2,509 drunken drivers, who are the main cause of crashes.”

Peters says men have accounted for the highest number of road fatalities since the start of the festive season, accounting for 79%.

The minister says men are being most negligent, but her department has also noted with concern an increase in the number of female drivers arrested for drunken driving across the country.

“Females account for 21.1% of the total percentage of our fatalities. We have to deal decisively with this phenomenon and investigate the causal factors of this unfortunate trend.”