President Ramaphosa recently announced government’s ambitious target of halving South Africa’s road deaths by 2030. With more than 12,000 lives lost on our roads each year, that goal is commendable, but the challenge remains considerable. Law enforcement and education will have major roles to play, but it is equally important not to overlook the role of infrastructure itself in delivering lasting change.

The reality is that road safety is not only decided by how people behave, but by the environments in which they move. While human error remains the leading cause of crashes, the built environment can influence how those incidents unfold – whether an error results in a near miss or a fatality. This makes infrastructure a key factor in improving safety, as roads can be designed to absorb mistakes and reduce their severity.

This principle is central to the Safe System approach, which underpins South Africa’s National Road Safety Strategy and supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3.6 to halve global road deaths. It recognises that while human error is inevitable, infrastructure must be designed to ensure that those errors are not fatal.

Designing for the reality of South African roads

The first step in this is recognising that one-size-fits-all approaches will inevitably fall short. Roads must be designed for local needs and patterns of use.

For example, South Africa’s road safety profile differs markedly from that of developed countries such as the United States. Research shows that in the US, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists account for nearly a third of road deaths, while in sub-Saharan Africa they make up more than half, pointing to a fundamentally different risk environment that road design must respond to.

In South Africa, it is common to find people walking alongside high-speed routes, crossing busy arterials, and sharing road space with taxis, buses, freight vehicles, and other forms of transport. Traditional road designs tailored to vehicle-dominated environments are not always suited to these conditions.

In practical terms, this means a change in how design standards are applied. Frequent, well-marked crossing points along high-footfall corridors, continuous sidewalks, protected walkways, pedestrian refuges, and median islands can all improve crossing safety. Similarly, the provision of formalised pick-up and drop-off areas can have a major effect in urban environments, particularly where minibus taxis and ride-hailing services operate, reducing stopping in live traffic lanes.

Speed, visibility, and road quality as design outcomes

Next is the issue of speed. While speeding is often framed purely as a behavioural issue, it can be heavily influenced by how a road is built. Wide lanes, long straight corridors, and open sightlines encourage higher speeds. Narrower lanes, sharper curves, and visual cues such as trees, signs, and pavement markings naturally encourage drivers to slow down.

As such, traffic calming should be prioritised in the design phase. In urban and peri-urban areas, this can include narrowing lane widths, introducing raised pedestrian crossings, adding median refuges, and replacing high-speed intersections with roundabouts.

However, interventions must be applied carefully. In mixed-traffic environments, upgrades intended to relieve congestion, such as wider shoulders, can unintentionally increase speeds, and expose any pedestrians and slower-moving vehicles using these shoulders as informal lanes to greater danger.

Some of the most effective interventions are also among the most basic.

Clear road markings, high-visibility signage, reflective materials, and adequate lighting can all significantly improve driver awareness, particularly in low-light conditions.

Addressing surface quality and drainage through consistent maintenance can further strengthen safety, as well-designed stormwater systems reduce standing water and minimise surface deterioration. This is an area where experienced infrastructure partners can add meaningful value, applying engineering best practice to support long-term road performance and safety.

Notably, research by the Automobile Association indicates that sustained road maintenance alone could reduce road deaths by around 5%, translating to over 600 lives saved every year, without any change in driver behaviour. This highlights the immediate and measurable impact that well-maintained infrastructure can have on safety outcomes.

Shared responsibility

Ultimately, as demonstrated by the above, achieving government’s road fatality target will necessitate sustained collaboration across multiple fronts.

Government has set the direction and continues to lead on policy, enforcement, public education, and national co-ordination. Infrastructure developers, working in partnership with the public sector, have a complementary role to play in translating that direction into safe, functional road environments. Every design decision, whether related to layout, materials, visibility, or other concerns, contributes to determining how roads are experienced and used.

Through structured stakeholder engagement and close collaboration with public sector partners, infrastructure developers such as the Gap Infrastructure Corporation (GIC) can incorporate real-world usage patterns into project planning and delivery, helping to ensure that safety considerations are embedded from the outset.

In practice, this means assessing each project not only in terms of delivery and performance, but also in terms of its contribution to safety, from pedestrian accommodation to hazard management.

So, as South Africa works towards its 2030 target, the focus must remain on integrated delivery. When infrastructure, law enforcement, public awareness, and government leadership reinforce one another, the result is a road network that both supports mobility and economic activity, and protects the lives of those who depend on it every day.

Expert insights by Roelof van den Berg, Chief Executive Officer of Gap Infrastructure Group (GIC)