The Department of Transport will embark on a process to amend Section 65 of the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA) to scrap the legal alcohol consumption limit in the country.

Currently, the law makes it a criminal offense to exceed the limit of 0.05g/100ml concentration of alcohol in blood or 0.24mg/1000ml breath for general drivers, and stricter limits of 0.02g/100ml blood or 0.10mg/1000ml breath for professional drivers.

“Our driving and drinking policy was formulated almost 30 years ago. In today’s South Africa, it is totally unacceptable that there is a law that allows people to drink and then drive.”

“The time has come for us to amend the law, so we have a clear-cut, easy-to-understand, and unambiguous policy that says drinking and driving is not allowed. A law that allows drivers to drink a certain amount and get behind the wheel of a car must be scrapped,” Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy said on Thursday.

The minister made these remarks during a media briefing that she held with the Deputy Minister of Transport, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, to release the road safety report for the 2025/26 festive season, which covers the period of December 1 until January 11.

According to the preliminary data of the 2025/26 Festive Season Road Safety Campaign, a total of 173 695 drivers were tested for driving under the influence of alcohol, and 8 561 of these tested positive.

This is a 144% increase when compared to the same period last year. The data also shows a 5% reduction in both fatalities and crashes for this year’s festive season, compared to the same period in the previous year.

“This year, a total of 1 427 fatalities were recorded from 1 172 crashes this year. The data shows that the 2025/26 festive season recorded the lowest number of crashes in five years, and the same number of fatalities as in the 2023/24 festive season,” the minister said.

During this period, law enforcement officers conducted 1 632 roadblocks in which 1.8 million vehicles were stopped and checked.

More than 450 000 traffic fines were issued, and 525 were arrested for excessive speeding.

In addition, a downward trajectory in road crashes and fatalities was also observed in the annual statistics, where preliminary data show that the number of road collisions and deaths for the twelve months in 2025 is the lowest in five years.

This period covers January 1 – December 31, 2025.

“A total of 11 418 fatalities were recorded from 9 674 crashes in 2025, compared to 12 581 fatalities from 10 633 crashes in 2021.”

“Furthermore, the 2025 crashes decreased by 6.4% when compared to 2024, and fatalities decreased by 6.2% in the same period,” the minister said. – SAnews.gov.za