Questions over licence disc renewal shake-up proposal

South Africa’s Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) says it can’t comment on the Automobile Association’s (AA) proposal to enforce roadworthiness tests for licence disc renewals as it hasn’t seen a formal proposal.

In January 2025, AA CEO Bobby Ramagwede called for annual roadworthiness tests for all vehicles when applying to renew their licence discs.

MyBroadband asked the RTMC if it would consider such a policy.

“We have not seen the details of this proposal. It will be appropriate for us to study and understand the details of the proposal and its full policy and operational implications before we can take a position,” said Zwane.

Ramagwede’s proposal came after transport minister Barbara Creecy revealed the 2024/25 festive season road fatality statistics.

She reported that there were 1,502 deaths on South Africa’s roads over the period, representing a 5.3% year-on-year increase, or 70 more fatalities than recorded in 2023/24.

The minister primarily blamed driver behaviour, including speeding, reckless driving, and driving under the influence, for the high number of road deaths.

However, Ramagwede said pushing the narrative that improving driver behaviour will address road fatalities isn’t enough, considering the minister also reported that 16,527 vehicles were found to be unroadworthy.

“I think efforts are being made in a scattered fashion. We need to address a lot more than just the message on driving behaviour,” said Ramagwede.

“We need to take into account that there are infrastructure components and equipment components.”

He singled-out the minister’s findings regarding vehicle roadworthiness. He believes all vehicles should be checked for roadworthiness and mechanical soundness annually.

“These things should not just emerge at a roadblock,” Ramagwede added.

To achieve this, the government would have to standardise roadworthiness tests and make them mandatory through legislation. Ramagwede suggested making them compulsory for licence disc renewals.

“Every year, motorists have to update their vehicle licence discs. Part and parcel of that update should be a roadworthiness test, otherwise your vehicle is not legal for road use,” said Ramagwede.

Fundamentally flawed proposal

Managing director at Driving.co.za, Rob Handfield-Jones, described Ramagwede’s proposal as being fundamentally flawed.

He cited data on unroadworthy vehicles and their contributions to fatal accidents on South African roads from 2015 to 2023, adding that there is no correlation between deadly crashes and car roadworthiness.

“The relationship between the percentage contribution of ‘vehicle factors’ to fatal crashes and the percentage of the vehicle parc which is unroadworthy has been broadly inverse over time,” said Handfield-Jones.

“That is to say, ‘vehicle factors’ have contributed ever less to fatal crashes despite an ever-higher percentage of unroadworthy vehicles,” he added.

“This is the opposite of what would need to be true for the AA’s recommendation to be tenable. The AA should have looked into this before making public statements on roadworthiness.”

The data shows that the ‘vehicle factors’ contribution to fatal accidents has declined massively since 2015, indicating that roadworthiness has become a far less significant road safety issue than human and road factors.

“The AA’s call for radical roadworthiness interventions therefore has no support in the data,” said Handfield-Jones.

“As to the AA’s claim that its proposal would be ‘highly effective’, mandatory regular roadworthiness inspections are already in force for several vehicle classes.”

He also explained that buses in South Africa must pass roadworthiness tests every six months and heavy vehicles and minibus taxis annually.

“Yet there is no evidence that the roadworthiness legislation for these vehicle classes has led to a more roadworthy vehicle parc generally,” said Handfield-Jones.

He said it happens to be the opposite. The proportion of unworthy vehicles in 2006 was 2.9%, far lower than it was in 2015.