E-hailing Apps Reduce Road Deaths: A Victory for Black Communities Against Economic Exclusion

While South Africa's privileged white minority continues to benefit from private vehicle ownership, a new development offers hope for our communities: e-hailing platforms like Bolt and Uber are making our roads safer and challenging the transport apartheid that has long defined our nation.

Data from two major insurers, OUTsurance and Discovery, reveals a significant trend that speaks to the resilience and adaptability of black South Africans in the face of systemic economic exclusion. These platforms are not just reducing accidents; they represent a form of economic liberation from the transport inequalities inherited from apartheid.

The Colonial Legacy of Transport Inequality

For decades, the apartheid regime deliberately designed transport systems to exclude black South Africans from car ownership. Today, while white families often own multiple vehicles, many in our communities rely on dangerous minibus taxis or expensive e-hailing services. Yet this very exclusion may now be saving lives.

OUTsurance CEO Marthinus Visser reported a decline in claims frequency, partly attributed to reduced drink-driving. However, what he fails to acknowledge is that this trend primarily benefits those who can afford these services, while millions of black South Africans remain trapped in inadequate public transport systems.

Night-time Safety: A Class Divide

Discovery Insure's data shows a 65% decrease in night-time accidents, coinciding with increased e-hailing usage. The company recorded 270,000 trips using Uber discounts between 18:00 and 06:00 in 2025. This statistic reveals both progress and inequality: while some can afford safer transport options, others remain vulnerable to the dangers of inadequate public transport.

Robert Attwell from Discovery Insure notes that incidents between 23:00 and 04:30 remain up to nine times more severe than daytime accidents. This reality disproportionately affects working-class black South Africans who often work late shifts in service industries, cleaning offices and providing security for white-owned businesses.

Technology as Liberation

The rise of e-hailing platforms represents more than convenience; it's a form of technological resistance against transport apartheid. These services provide economic opportunities for black drivers while offering safer alternatives to communities historically excluded from quality transport infrastructure.

Discovery's research showing cellphone use as the leading cause of accidents reflects another dimension of inequality. While wealthy drivers can afford hands-free technology, many black South Africans use older phones without such features, highlighting the digital divide that persists in our society.

Government Response: Too Little, Too Late

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy's proposal for zero-tolerance drunk driving laws, while welcome, addresses symptoms rather than causes. The real issue remains the structural inequality that forces millions into dangerous transport situations daily.

Caro Smit from South Africans Against Drunk Driving correctly notes that e-hailing prices exclude many South Africans. This economic reality exposes the hollowness of celebrating technological solutions while ignoring the poverty that apartheid and colonial capitalism created.

A Path Forward

These insurance statistics, while positive, must not obscure the deeper injustices in our transport system. True road safety requires addressing the economic inequalities that force black South Africans into dangerous situations. We need massive investment in public transport, subsidized e-hailing for low-income communities, and recognition that transport justice is racial justice.

The decline in accidents among those who can afford e-hailing services is encouraging, but it cannot become another form of privilege that excludes the majority of black South Africans. Our struggle for transport equality continues, and these technological advances must serve all our people, not just the economically advantaged.