Wheel Well releases 2025 Child Road Safety Report as progress stalls at 1,000 child deaths
New report shows an almost 80% reduction in child road deaths since 2012, but pedestrians continue to account for two-thirds of fatalities
Wheel Well, South African non-profit organisation has released its Status of Child Road Safety: 2025 Report, highlighting significant progress in reducing child road deaths over the past 13 years, while warning that South Africa is reaching a plateau in protecting its youngest road users.
The report records 1,034 child road deaths in 2025, compared with 5,087 in 2012. While the almost 80% reduction demonstrates the impact that sustained road-safety interventions can have, Wheel Well says the country cannot become complacent while more than 1,000 children continue to die on the roads each year.
“The progress we have made since 2012 is important, but the figure we need to focus on now is the 1,034 children who did not make it home in 2025,” said Peggie Mars, Founder of Wheel Well. “The data tells us that we have moved forward, but we are now facing a different challenge. We need to understand where children remain most exposed and put practical measures in place to address those risks.”
Children remain most vulnerable outside the vehicle
The report shows that pedestrians accounted for 690 child deaths in 2025 or 66.7% of all child road fatalities, more than double the 343 children who died as vehicle passengers.
This means that for many children, the greatest road-safety risk is not the journey inside a vehicle but the journey to and from school, along residential roads or through communities where pedestrian infrastructure remains limited.
The risk is particularly pronounced during low-light conditions. Wheel Well's analysis shows that 75% of fatal child pedestrian crashes occur around dawn, dusk or during dark hours, highlighting the importance of visibility alongside safer road design and driver behaviour.
Age also plays a role. Children aged four and younger accounted for 404 deaths, representing 39.1% of child fatalities, followed by children aged five to nine, who accounted for 379 deaths. As children grow and become more independent, their exposure shifts towards walking routes, road crossings, commuter traffic and scholar transport.
The impact goes beyond the number of deaths
For Wheel Well, the fatality figures represent only part of the child road-safety burden.
Using clinical ratios established by the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, the report estimates that the 1,034 child fatalities in 2025 were accompanied by more than 5,000 serious injuries and 15,400 slight injuries.
These include traumatic brain injuries, complex fractures, amputations, concussions and other injuries that can have lifelong consequences for children and place significant physical, emotional and financial pressure on families.
“The road safety conversation often ends with the number of people who die,” said Mars. “But every serious injury changes a child's life and can affect an entire family for years. Prevention therefore has to happen before the crash, not only after it.”
From child restraints to vehicle safety
Wheel Well's work has focused on practical interventions that address the different ways children are exposed to road risk, including its Car Seats for Kids initiative and the Halo Beanie Project, which improves children's visibility through retro-reflective materials weaved into the beanies.
The organisation says the next phase of child road safety must combine these practical interventions with safer school zones, improved pedestrian infrastructure, stronger protection for children travelling in scholar transport and better data on how children are travelling when crashes occur.
Vehicle safety is another part of this equation.
As a supporter of Wheel Well's road-safety work, Supa Quick is helping reinforce the importance of vehicle preparedness among motorists and transport operators. Regular checks of tyres, brakes and shock absorbers can help ensure that vehicles carrying children are able to stop, steer and respond when hazards arise.
“Protecting children on our roads requires us to look at the whole journey,” said Mars. “That includes how a child is restrained, whether they can be seen by approaching drivers, the safety of the road they are travelling on and whether the vehicle carrying them is properly maintained.”
The road ahead
Wheel Well says the almost 80% reduction in child road deaths since 2012 proves that change is possible but the current plateau demonstrates that the next phase will require more targeted action.
The organisation is calling for greater attention to 30 km/h school zones supported by physical traffic calming, reflective elements in school uniforms and bags, improved child passenger protection in scholar transport and more detailed crash data to identify where interventions are most needed.
“The goal cannot simply be to maintain the progress we have made,” concluded Mars. “We need to make sure that the next generation of children grows up with safer ways to move through their communities. The evidence tells us where the risks are.
The responsibility now is to act on it.”
For more insights and findings, read the full Child Road Safety in South Africa: The 2025 Status Report here: https://wheelwell.co.za/child-road-safety-in-south-africa-the-2025-status-report/
