Festive season statistics indicate a 5% decline in fatal crashes

Early figures from the 2025/26 Festive Season Road Safety Campaign show a 5% decrease in both road deaths and crashes compared to the same period last year, the Department of Transport has revealed.

“This year, a total of 1 427 fatalities were recorded from 1 172 crashes this year. The data shows that the 2025/26 festive season recorded the lowest number of crashes in five years, and the same number of fatalities as in the 2023/24 festive season,” Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, said on Thursday, in Pretoria.

The Minister, together with Deputy Minister, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, held a media briefing to release the road safety report for the 2025/2026 festive season, which covers the period of 1 December until 11 January 2026.

“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, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, and Northern Cape, recorded increases in fatalities, the Minister said.

The statistics show a noticeable increase in the number of crashes and fatalities from 15 to 28 of December 2025. These two weeks contributed more than 40% to crashes and fatalities. 

“This re-confirms 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.

“Many of the crashes happened over the weekend between 19:00 and 21:00 and between midnight and 01:00. They involved collision with pedestrians, hit and run, single vehicle overturns and head-on collisions,” Creecy said.

The highest number of pedestrian fatalities were reported in the City of Cape Town, City of Johannesburg, eThekwini, Nkangala District and the City of Tshwane.

The types of vehicles that contributed to most of the crashes were small motor cars with 55%, followed by light delivery vehicles at 20%.

Minibus vehicles and trucks were involved in only 7% and 6% of crashes respectively. During the festive season, law enforcement officers conducted 1 632 roadblocks in which 1.8 million vehicles were stopped and checked. 

More than 450 000 traffic fines were issued, 525 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 222 kilometres an hour in a 120-kilometre per hour zone.

“This year our officers also arrested 89 motorists for attempting to bribe traffic officers to avoid arrest.

“We completed 2547 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 also had a massive community awareness and education campaign on radio, television and social media platforms.

This included an increased number of roadblocks, checks for vehicle roadworthiness, driver licenses, seatbelt and child-restraint use as well as clamping down on speeding and drunken driving.

Annual statistics

In addition, 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 the twelve-month period in 2025 are the lowest in five years.

This period covers 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025.

“A total of 11 418 fatalities were recorded from 9 674 crashes in 2025 compared to 12 581 fatalities from 10 633 crashes in 2021. 

“Furthermore the 2025 crashes decreased by 6.4% when compared to 2024 and fatalities decreased by 6.2% in the same period,” the Minister said.