The worst drivers in South Africa hail from Mbombela, where speedsters make the Mpumalanga capital city an unsafe place to be on the road.

This is according to the latest Discovery Insure analysis on driving behaviour in South Africa.

Overall women drive better than men, but only by a small margin, the data shows.

The safest place to drive in the country is Port Elizabeth, with the best drivers overall in South Africa.

Cape Town is in second place, and Bloemfontein is third.

Polokwane, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Pietermaritzburg and East London are next. Durban at ninth place and Mbombela in tenth spot are at the bottom of the rankings.

Discovery Insure analysed the driving behaviour of the 10 largest metropolitan areas in South Africa.

The statistics are based on more than 30000 South Africans who downloaded the free Discovery Insure app and are currently participating in the challenge.

This is the second year that the challenge has run and the results indicate an improvement in driving behaviour from last year to this year. Overall driving behaviour has improved by more than 10% from last year.

The greatest area of improvement is fewer motorists using their phones while driving - a reduction of 22%.

Although Nelspruit drivers score well on acceleration and braking, they score poorly for speeding. This currently places them at the bottom of the table.

According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation, around 5500 people were killed on South Africa's roads from April to August this year, with private vehicles contributing to half these fatalities.

"Innovative technologies, such as the telematics that Discovery Insure uses to make members more aware of their driving behaviour, has the potential to dramatically improve the safety of South Africa's roads," its CEO Anton Ossip said.

"A model which rewards good driving has clear benefits for a country where road deaths are a growing problem."