South Africa has some of the most dangerous roads in the world and the estimated cost of road accidents a year is about R164-billion, or about 3.4% of the country's GDP.

However, the disruption of supply chains and the movement of goods and people affects the broader economy, increasing the costs of logistics and for consumer goods, introducing delays and adding risks, and decreasing its investment attractiveness, civil and infrastructure engineering firm Zutari transport economist Carole Mtizi said on April 17.

South Africa recorded more than 12 000 deaths resulting from road accidents in 2023, or about 24.5 per 100 000 people. Another challenge was that these accidents and those resulting in injury involved economically active citizens, which perpetuated the cycle of poverty in affected households, she said during a Transport Forum event.

“The incident rates in South Africa pose a significant risk to economic development and fiscal stability. Road safety is not only a social issue, but an economic issue.”

Another direct cost is damage to vehicles, and the cost to replace public infrastructure.

Additionally, crashes require significant direct intervention by emergency services, and they place great pressure on the healthcare system, with hospitals reporting that about 60% of trauma cases are linked to traffic collisions.

Similarly, about 3.2-million work days a year are lost owing to road accidents, and crashes place significant administrative burdens on many people in the public and private sectors, said Mtizi.

“But, it is not only employment that is affected, but trade and investment also.”

While crashes contribute to congestion of the road network, delaying and disrupting the movement of people, South Africa's roads are dominated by freight transport and crashes disrupt logistics and supply chains.

In addition to delays, the cost of this inefficiency is passed on to consumers.

“Road safety is a preventive economy policy that can reduce the public health burden, improve workforce productivity and logistics reliability and support the economy so that people can work,” Mtizi said.

Maintaining and upgrading infrastructure not only affected the conditions drivers experienced but also directly reduced accidents, with a 30% lower incident rate on well-lit segments of roads, she noted.

Further, data-driven policy making is sorely needed in South Africa. The South African National Roads Agency has integrated traffic feeds, with the i-Traffic system identifying areas of high risk.

“We need to take this data that we get in real-time and use it to make better policies and decisions.”

Vehicle standards needed to be maintained, however, standards were often not enforced on the roads, she said.

“We need to understand that the economic impact of road safety is important, as the journey to a sustainable and inclusive economy in South Africa hinges on a safe and efficient transport system.

“Investing in road safety is not only about safety, but is a strategic economic imperative,” Mtizi said.