By Aurelia Mbokazi-Kashe
Youth Month is a time when we celebrate energy, ambition and possibility. But it should also be a time when we confront a difficult reality: too many young South Africans are dying on our roads.
Every year, young drivers are disproportionately represented in serious crashes. The default response is predictable. We talk about speeding. We talk about drinking. We talk about inexperience. And then we move on.
But if it were that simple, the numbers would be falling far faster than they are.
Yes, young drivers take risks. That is not controversial. A newly licensed 19-year-old in their first car is navigating freedom, identity and independence all at once. Add friends in the passenger seat, late-night drives and the pressure to prove something, and the risk curve climbs. But stopping the conversation there misses the bigger picture.
A young driver in South Africa does not operate in a vacuum. They often drive older vehicles without modern crash-avoidance technology. Many cannot afford cars with multiple airbags, stability control or advanced braking systems. Road conditions differ dramatically depending on where you live. Street lighting is inconsistent. Public transport alternatives are not always reliable or safe, especially at night. Law enforcement visibility fluctuates. Alcohol remains deeply woven into social culture.
Now place an inexperienced driver inside that ecosystem.
When a crash happens, we tend to ask what the young driver did wrong. Speeding? Possibly. Distracted? Maybe. Showing off? It happens. But rarely do we interrogate the layered conditions surrounding that moment. Was the road properly maintained? Was the vehicle equipped to protect its occupants? Were safer alternatives realistically available? Who shaped that driver’s risk perception long before they sat behind the wheel?
Road safety is not just about behaviour. It is about systems.
Government decisions affect infrastructure and enforcement. Municipalities influence lighting and road quality. Manufacturers decide which safety features enter our market at accessible price points. Parents model driving habits for years before their children apply for a learner’s licence. Schools and peers shape attitudes towards risk, masculinity and status. Insurers and media reinforce what responsible driving looks like.
When those elements align, young drivers are buffered from harm. When they do not, vulnerability increases.
Youth Month should not only celebrate potential. It should challenge us to protect it. Instead of framing young drivers as the problem, we should see them as developing road users navigating a complex environment. The question is not simply why they crash. It is whether the system around them is designed to absorb their inexperience or amplify it.
This does not absolve personal responsibility. Speed limits still matter. Seatbelts still save lives. Driving under the influence is indefensible. But accountability must be shared. If we are serious about reducing fatalities, we need consistent enforcement, safer infrastructure, broader access to modern vehicle safety technology and stronger conversations at home about what responsible driving actually looks like.
In a country where mobility often represents opportunity, driving is more than transport. For many young South Africans, it symbolises progress. That makes protecting them on the road a collective obligation.
This Youth Month, perhaps the most powerful shift we can make is this: stop asking only how to fix young drivers, and start asking how to build a road system worthy of them.
