Nzimande vows to clamp down on licencing centres as road death toll hits 1612
Transport Minister Blade Nzimande says 1612 people died on South African roads during the past festive season.
This is an increase of 7% from the same period in 2017/2018.
Nzimande released the preliminary statistics in Pretoria on Wednesday.
KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of crashes and fatalities, recording 267 crashes which resulted in 328 deaths.
The Free State saw the highest increase in deaths, from 124 to 159 year-on-year, which is an increase of 28%.
"The carnage we continue to experience on our roads are instigated by a number factors mostly embedded in human behaviour and vehicle factors. This includes alcohol and substance abuse, reckless and negligent driving, unroadworthy vehicles, overtaking on blind rises, total disregard for rules of the road, corruption, distracted driving and failure to use seatbelts," Nzimande said.
Gauteng recorded a 19% decrease road deaths, while North West saw a 2% decrease.
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"We remain concerned about the incalcitrant attitude of our road users," Nzimande said.
The department will be now be clamping down on licencing centres.
Nzimande said: "I have directed the Road Traffic Managing Cooperation to conduct a thorough investigation in each of the driving licence and testing centres, where South African nationals involved in these major crashes obtained their licences. We're concerned that there are just too many fraudulent licenses on our roads or even they are not fraudulent they have been given out fraudulently."
The minister expressed concern over the fact that more than 80% of crashes are due to human negligence.