Poor levels of road safety for South Africa’s motorcycle riders

South Africa suffered poor safety levels for motorcyclists during 2018, with a 9% increase in fatalities compared to 2017. During 2018 there were 183 fatalities amongst motorcycle drivers and passengers in South Africa, compared to 166 in 2017. Meanwhile there were 508 powered two wheeler riders seriously injured in 2018, compared with 521 the previous year. Of those killed or seriously injured in crashes, 651 were male and 58 were female in 2018, compared with 631 males and 56 females killed or seriously i
January 7, 2019 Read time: 1 min

South Africa suffered poor safety levels for motorcyclists during 2018, with a 9% increase in fatalities compared to 2017. During 2018 there were 183 fatalities amongst motorcycle drivers and passengers in South Africa, compared to 166 in 2017. Meanwhile there were 508 powered two wheeler riders seriously injured in 2018, compared with 521 the previous year. Of those killed or seriously injured in crashes, 651 were male and 58 were female in 2018, compared with 631 males and 56 females killed or seriously injured during 2017. Of those killed or seriously injured, 25% were aged 30-39. There were around 14 serious motorcycle crashes involving a fatality or a serious injury/week on average during 2018, with March featuring the highest rate at 87, although September had the highest fatality rate with 26 deaths. Although motorcycles account for just 2.1% of the registered vehicles in South Africa, they feature a disproportionately high level of serious crashes.

Related Content

  • Concern over poor Middle East road safety
    March 21, 2017
    Poor road safety is a serious issue in several countries in the Middle East.
    Read More
  • Reduced road casualty rates for EU 27 nations
    December 5, 2013
    Road safety continues to improve in Europe, with official statistics for 2012 showing a drop in fatalities of 2,661 compared with the figures for 2011. The latest data from Pan-European police body TISPOL shows an encouraging trend towards better road safety, highlighting improvements right across the EU. In 2012, a total of 27,700 people were killed in road crashes in the European Union’s 27 member states, equivalent to 55 people/million inhabitants. This was the lowest road fatality rate so far recorded s
    Read More
  • WHO highlights Turkey’s road crash rate
    December 11, 2013
    New data from the World Health Organisation's (WHO) 2013 global status report on road safety highlights a serious problem in Turkey. According to the WHO’s research, road crashes result in some 8,700 deaths/year on the Turkish network. The highest health risk for those aged from 15-29 isroad crashes. The report also stated that 50% of the victims are motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians and 75% are males. Excessive speed results in 34% of traffic accidents. However, the report claims that fatal crashes c
    Read More
  • Marginal US road safety improvement for 2018?
    July 19, 2018
    US roads have been slightly safer in 2018, according to new data from the National Safety Council (NSC). The research shows that motor-vehicle deaths have decreased in the first five months of 2018.There were 15,280 deaths in motor vehicle related incidents through January and May 2018. This represents a drop of 0.5% from the 15,330 deaths recorded through January and May 2017. However for the period through January and May 2016, the data shows that the rate of motor vehicle related deaths was 9% higher, h
    Read More

Highlighted Content