South Africa's road safety crisis: Too many cars and too few traffic officers

THOUSANDS of traffic officers versus millions of vehicles. South Africa just doesn't have enough boots on the ground to keep our roads safe.  

Collen Msibi from the Department of Transport says the numbers are simply inadequate, mainly because of budgetary constraints. 

“So we've only got 22,000 traffic officers in the country, yet the population of vehicles on our roads is just over 14 million,” he said.

And with the ratio imbalance, they just can't police every vehicle, he said, calling for behaviour change. 

“So long as drivers haven’t decided to change, it’s all in vain. You have to take responsibility for your actions; it begins with you,” Msibi said.

The figures show that this festive season, alcohol-fueled carnage claimed lives and landed thousands of drunk drivers behind bars, which Msibi warns has now reached crisis levels. But its not just drunk drivers, drunk pedestrians also play a role in the fatalities. 

“I think where there's loss of lives because of somebody who was drunk, it becomes a crisis. The issue of drunk driving is a bigger factor when it comes to crashes and fatalities. So there's been enforcement mainly focused on the issue of consumption of alcohol for both drivers and pedestrians.” 

Msibi said behaviour needs to change. “When you know that you're going to be driving, why do you go and consume alcohol? It just tells you the kind of recklessness and the bad behaviour that we have on our roads.”  “We've lost so many breadwinners, and it is mainly because people are just so irresponsible. You can't be driving a car while drunk. It's as simple as that.”

So far, the Transport Department's nationwide campaigns, at least 1000, held to make the roads safer have not yielded satisfactory results.  

“No matter how many education campaigns we run, no matter how much law enforcement we  conduct on our roads, we can't police each and every vehicle. It's all in vain because at the end of the day, you have to decide that I'm going to change. I'm going to drive in a much more responsible way.” 

This week Transport Minister Barbara Creecy confirmed that 7 000 people were arrested for drunk driving during the holidays. This is double the number from last year despite law enforcement stepping up operations nationwide.

“There's been a significant increase in the number of vehicles that have been stopped and checked, a significant increase in arrests and prosecutions for drunken driving and speeding, all of which I think have a very negative impact on the safety of the public in general. But I think we also have to admit that even if the figures come down, they are still much, much too high. And it means that all of us, including the public, have got to do a lot more work on our behaviour, not just over the festive season, but every single day.” 

The South African Police Service also did its bit to keep roads safe. 

Through its nationwide Operation Shanela II, the police said 16 044 suspects were arrested between 29 December 2025 and 04 January 2026, and most of the offences were linked to alcohol abuse and distribution. 

In total, 939 suspects were arrested for illegally dealing in liquor, while 1 816 suspects were taken in for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

“In addition, police removed a staggering 30 043 litres of alcohol from circulation, including 12 343 litres in the Eastern Cape alone. These actions underscore SAPS’s determination to protect communities from the devastating impact of alcohol which fuels crime and reckless behaviour within our communities,”

Tebogo Ramadiro, the substance use co-ordinator at the South African Depression and Anxiety Group says they've received an increasing number of calls related to alcohol misuse. 

He says rather than making you feel better, drinking intensifies feelings of hopelessness, irritability as well as suicidal thoughts. “So alcohol misuse is one of the most prominent substance related issues we encounter, often co-occurring with depression, anxiety and trauma. A drinking problem is not only defined by how much someone drinks, but by the impact alcohol has on their lives. What we mean by that is that alcohol impairs, you know, decision making, impairs judgment.” 

The National Health Department this week said that no specific measures were implemented ahead of the festive season and it requires an inter-governmental approach and not just the Department of Health. 

Experts say that as usual, alcohol consumption escalates over the December holidays. It’s estimated that on average, South Africans fork out R414 million a day for booze, but the number increases exponentially over the holiday. Market analysts believe it's closer to R1 billion per day between Christmas and New Year.