South Africa’s roads and intersections are built for speed and volume, not pedestrian safety. Road planning in South Africa prioritises traffic-related factors, such as the speed and volume of private vehicles, over considerations for pedestrian safety (Beukes & Zuidgeest, 2010). Pavements are narrow or broken.
Crossings are unmarked or unlit. In too many places, there are no pedestrian routes at all, says the writer. As families prepare to travel this festive season, one number that should put every transport planner, engineer, and policymaker on edge: 41.9%.
That’s the share of road deaths over the 2024/2025 holiday period that were pedestrians, according to theRoad Traffic Management Corporation. Out of 1589 fatalities, 654 were people on foot – ordinary South Africans walking to work, public transport, church, or visit family. That’s the share of road deaths over the 2024/2025 holiday period that were pedestrians, according to the .
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These are not random accidents. They are the predictable result of a country where most roads are designed for vehicles, not people. In too many places, there are no pedestrian routes at all.
The result is visible in every province: high-speed corridors cutting through dense townships; schoolchildren crossing multi-lane highways; communities without sidewalks connecting to taxi ranks or clinics. The tragedy is not new, but it is entirely preventable. Johannesburg, our most resourced city, illustrates the problem’s scale.
In 2025, it was ranked last out of 90 global cities for walkability, with an overall score of just 18 out of 100. If the country’s economic centre – with the greatest engineering and financial capacity – performs this poorly, smaller municipalities have little chance unless we rethink how we build and maintain our streets.
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