​Staff Writer 
South Africa recorded 1451 road deaths between 1 December 2022 and 11 January 2023.
This is a 13.9% decrease compared to the 1685 fatalities recorded in the 2021 holiday season.
Releasing the 2022/23 festive season road traffic statistics on Tuesday, Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula announced that Gauteng saw 290 fatalities. This is a 5.5% increase from 2021.
Western Cape fatalities dropped by 36.7%, Mpumalanga by 23.8%, Limpopo by 20.8%, North-West by 21%, KwaZulu Natal by 12.7%, Eastern Cape by 2.4%, Free State by 1.7% and the Northern Cape by 21.5%.
In the 2022 festive period, most crashes occurred between 17h00 and 22h00, particularly on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 
Mbalula said human factors remain a principal driver of fatalities, accounting for 87% of all crashes. 
These are followed by road and environmental factors at 8%, with vehicle factors at 5%.
Furthermore, most fatal crashes involved light motor vehicles, followed by light delivery vehicles, minibuses, and trucks.
The minister said pedestrian fatalities remain a concern. 
"Pedestrian fatalities significantly increased by 10% year-on-year, from 31% in the previous period to 41% in the current festive season. Simply put, out of every 100 road crash fatalities, 41 are pedestrians," Mbalula explained.
Meanwhile, cyclist fatalities declined from 3% in the previous period to 2% in the current festive season.
Mbalula reminded road users must at all times appreciate that the road is a shared space and drivers have the responsibility to look out for pedestrians and cyclists, while these road users must also respect the rules of the road. 
Law enforcement interventions have been critical during this festive season, with over 370 joint operations executed during the period under review. 
The interventions focused on pedestrian enforcement, vehicle roadworthiness, public passenger transport, drunken driving, and execution of warrants.
These saw 474 K78 roadblocks, with over 1.3 million vehicles stopped and checked and over 255 000 notices issued.
photo cred:SABC