The 2025/2026 South African festive season recorded the lowest number of crashes in five years, with a preliminary 5% reduction in fatalities and crashes compared with the same period last year.
A total of 1,427 fatalities were recorded from 1,172 crashes between December 1 and January 11, transport minister Barbara Creecy said at a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday. However, some provinces recorded increased death tolls.
“Five provinces reported reductions in fatalities, with the highest percentage reduction recorded in the Eastern Cape, followed by the Free State.
“Four provinces — namely Gauteng, the Western Cape, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape — recorded increases in fatalities,” Creecy said.
The statistics also show a noticeable increase in the number of crashes and fatalities from December 15 to 28. Those two weeks contributed more than 40% of crashes and fatalities.
“This reconfirms that festive season crashes and fatalities increase once travellers have reached their destinations and are engaging in festivities rather than during the peak travel periods.
The highest alcohol reading was recorded in KwaZulu-Natal, where one motorist recorded breath alcohol content 14 times above the legal alcohol limit. The highest speedster was arrested in the Northern Cape, where he was clocked at 222km/h in a 120km/h zone
— Barbara Creecy, transport minister
“Many of the crashes happened over the weekend between 7pm and 10pm and between midnight and 1am. They involved collisions with pedestrians, hit-and-run [incidents], single-vehicle overturns and head-on collisions.”
The highest number of pedestrian fatalities were reported in:
- Cape Town;
- Johannesburg;
- eThekwini;
- Mpumalanga’s Nkangala district; and
- Tshwane.
The types of vehicles that contributed to most of the crashes were:
- small cars, at 55%; followed by
- light delivery vehicles at 20%;
- Minibus vehicles (7%); and
- trucks at 6%.
The high-profile festive season road safety campaign saw law enforcement officers conduct 1,632 roadblocks in which:
- 1.8-million vehicles were stopped and checked;
- more than 450,000 traffic fines were issued; and
- 525 people were arrested for excessive speeding.
“Roadblocks and vehicle inspections targeted roadworthiness, driver fitness and licensing. A total of 173,695 drivers were tested for driving under the influence of alcohol and 8,561 of these tested positive — a 144% increase on the same period last year.
“The highest alcohol reading was recorded in KwaZulu-Natal, where one motorist recorded breath alcohol content 14 times above the legal alcohol limit. The highest speedster was arrested in the Northern Cape, where he was clocked at 222km/h in a 120km/h zone.
“This year our officers also arrested 89 motorists for attempting to bribe traffic officers to avoid arrest.
“We completed 2,547 physical education and awareness programmes across the country to influence driver, pedestrian and passenger behaviour, including visits to mass transit departure points, malls and other areas of mass convergence.”
The department had a community awareness and education campaign on radio, TV and social media platforms. This included:
- an increased number of roadblocks,
- checks for vehicle roadworthiness, driver licences, seatbelt and child-restraint use; as well as
- clamping down on speeding and drunken driving.
Creecy said a downward trajectory in road crashes and fatalities was also observed in the annual statistics, where preliminary data shows that the number of road collisions and deaths for 2025 was the lowest in five years.
“A total of 11,418 fatalities were recorded from 9,674 crashes in 2025 compared with 12,581 fatalities from 10,633 crashes in 2021.
“Furthermore, the 2025 crashes decreased by 6.4% compared with 2024, and fatalities decreased by 6.2% in the same period,”
TimesLIVE
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