Festive season accident trends

The festive season is well-known as a notorious time to be travelling on South African roads.

Let these 2023/24 festive season statistics from the Department of Transport help plan your travels and remind you to be extra cautious on the road.

• Traffic volumes reached 853 564 on 20 December 2023, the peak day of travelling in this period

• Most accidents took place during the first week of December, potentially due to November’s payday weekend and year-end parties. The second busiest period was the third week of December, followed by the fourth

• Nationally, 1 184 fatal accidents occurred during this period and a total of 1 427 deaths were reported, a 2.3% and 1.7% decrease respectively from the same period the previous year

• KZN was one of four provinces that saw an increase in festive season fatalities (4.2%) from the previous year

• The other provinces with increased road fatalities were Gauteng (7.6%), Mpumalanga (9.7%) and the Western Cape (22.6%)

• Most accidents took place between 7pm and 10pm, peaking between 8pm and 9pm, with more fatalities recorded on Sundays than on any other day

• An overwhelming 80.8% of accidents were caused by ‘human factors’, while environmental and vehicle factors made up the rest

• Of those who lost their lives due to vehicle accidents, 40.9% were pedestrians, 33.6% were passengers, 24.6% were drivers, the majority of whom were between the ages of 25 and 44.

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