WATCH: Transport Minister Creecy releases 2025/26 festive season road safety report
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy briefing the media in Pretoria on the 2025/26 festive season road safety report.
Image: GCIS
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy is briefing the media in Pretoria on the release of the Road Safety Report for the 2025 and 2026 festive season following the conclusion of the busy holiday period.
The briefing comes after a festive season marked by several major road accidents that claimed the lives of motorists and passengers across the country.
Creecy is joined by her deputy, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, during the media briefing.
On December 19, 2025, Creecy reported that the early part of the 2025 festive season saw fewer fatal crashes than the previous year, with 505 deaths reported at the time.
However, she expressed concern that the daily average of 32 fatalities remained unacceptably high.
She was speaking during a mid-term review of the 2025 Festive Season Road Safety Campaign in the Western Cape.
The campaign began at the start of December and focused on intensified law enforcement, road safety education and public awareness messaging.
According to preliminary data covering the period from December 1 to 16, fatal crashes declined by 20.9% while fatalities decreased by 20.8% compared with the same period the previous year.
Despite the improvement, Creecy warned that the figures masked the continued reality of road trauma across the country.
“Preliminary reporting confirms that holiday crashes continue to claim lives. In the Western Cape alone, 66 people were killed in 55 crashes in the first half of December,” she said.
Creecy said 1,328 road safety education and awareness programmes had already been conducted nationwide, contributing to the reduction in crashes and fatalities.
However, she cautioned that sustained effort was still required to significantly improve road safety outcomes.
While Gauteng recorded a 12% reduction in crashes, it remained the highest contributor to the national road death toll. The province reported 105 fatalities in 95 crashes.
KwaZulu-Natal recorded 88 deaths in 85 crashes, while Mpumalanga reported 69 fatalities in 50 crashes.
The Eastern Cape recorded 52 fatalities in 45 crashes, Limpopo 40 deaths in 34 crashes, North West 34 deaths in 28 crashes and the Northern Cape 31 deaths in 20 crashes.
The Free State emerged as the best-performing province, recording a 67.2% decrease in fatalities. Major crashes in the province declined from 40 during the same period the previous year to 19, while road deaths dropped from 61 to 20.
Nationally, fatal crashes declined from 545 during the same period last year to 431 this year.
The number of lives lost decreased from 638 to 505, meaning 113 lives were saved through enhanced law enforcement, road safety education and awareness initiatives, Creecy said.
She reiterated that while progress had been made, the country could not be complacent in addressing road safety, particularly during peak travel periods.
simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za
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