The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has appealed to motorists to use their year-end bonuses and stokvel payouts to fix their vehicles and renew expired licence discs before hitting the road this festive season.
With holiday travel approaching, the RTMC said many drivers overlook essential maintenance during the year, only to face breakdowns or safety risks during long-distance trips.
It urged the public to prioritise replacing worn tyres, cracked windscreens, faulty brakes, defective lights and worn windscreen wipers, all components that become more critical in wet summer conditions.
Last year, vehicle defects contributed to 6.9% of fatal crashes recorded during the festive period. Of those, tyre bursts accounted for 65.7%, followed by faulty brakes at 11.4%. Crashes where headlights were not switched on contributed 9.5%.
The agency also warned that more than a million vehicle licence discs are due to expire at the end of November. Gauteng leads the tally with 416,828 renewals due, followed by the Western Cape with 197,797 and KwaZulu-Natal with 143,293.
Other provinces with looming expiries include Mpumalanga (66,446), the Eastern Cape (63,263), Limpopo (58,551), the Free State (47,572), North West (44,871) and the Northern Cape (21,763).
Motorists driving with an expired licence disc face a monthly penalty of 10% of the annual fee, fines of up to R1,000 if stopped by law enforcement and the possibility of having their vehicles impounded.
TimesLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.