Strict new driving law for South Africa is coming
Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy says the government is pursuing legislative amendments to move towards a strict zero-percent blood alcohol policy as part of efforts to improve road safety.
The legislative amendments will be made to Section 65 of the National Road Traffic Act.
“We are in the process of acquiring approval from the Chief State Law Advisor and Socio-Economic Impact Assessment System (SEIAS) approval to secure cabinet concurrence for this amendment by the end of 2026,” the Minister said on Wednesday at the Road Safety Practitioners’ Colloquium in Ekurhuleni.
According to Creecy, more than 18,000 people were arrested for drunken driving between March and the end of August this year alone, accounting for a third of all traffic arrests during the period.
The Minister said South Africa cannot normalise the close to 12,000 deaths recorded on the country’s roads annually.
“This is why we have set ourselves the target of halving our number of annual road fatalities by 2030, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”
The intention to move towards a zero-percent drinking limit has been in the works for years.
Former Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula first announced that he would introduce a 0% legal blood-alcohol limit in February 2020.
At the time, the plan was to introduce new legislation around drinking and driving by December 2020—however, this never transpired.
Various stakeholders, including traffic experts, have repeatedly flagged why the proposed rule change won’t work.
The change would see the blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) limit in the National Road Traffic Act be reduced from 0.05 grams per 100 millilitres to 0.00g/100ml.
The breath alcohol concentration limit would be cut from 0.24g/1,000ml also to zero.
However, there are several over-the-counter medicines and common consumable products in South Africa which have trace amounts of alcohol, which could be flagged by a BAC test.
These include foods like pure vanilla, almond and other extracts, cooking wines, and some vinegars and sauces.
Groups like the AA and Sakeliga have previously pointed out that reducing the limit to a smaller amount could circumvent this issue—but still wouldn’t solve the overall problem.
Crucially, they believe that the problem isn’t the alcohol limit, but rather enforcement, flagging that if authorities don’t have the capacity to enforce current limits, they are unlikely to do so with a zero-percent limit.
When the law change was first proposed, the AA said that behavioural change is needed to solve the problem.
This requires proper enforcement of existing laws and more intensive education of the dangers of drunk driving, it said.
South Africa’s killer roads
According to Creecy, the country is making progress on behavioural changes.
“We have recorded significant milestones over the past two years. Over six percent less annual crashes and fatalities were recorded in 2025 compared to 2024,” Creecy said.
Data from the 2025/26 Festive Season Road Safety Campaign indicated a 5% reduction in both road fatalities and crashes, while five provinces recorded a reduction in fatalities compared to the same period in the previous year.
“During the 2026 Easter long weekend, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) recorded the second-lowest crashes and fatalities over the past 4-year Easter periods.
“When compared to the peak in 2024, crashes declined by 24% and fatalities by 39%.”
Creecy said that while these statistics are commendable, the numbers remain too high, and the government needs to intensify existing efforts to reduce them.
To address the high number of pedestrian deaths, the department launched a targeted focus on preventing people from crossing and walking on highways.
Traffic policing authorities have also intensified patrols in entertainment areas near highways to prevent inebriated pedestrians from running across major roads and to encourage them to use designated road crossings, Creecy said.
She said visibility and public education are key to the success of these measures.
With SA News
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