While Gauteng saw a 12% reduction in crashes, it remains the leading contributor to the festive-season road fatalities toll.
On Friday, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy provided an update on the 2025 festive season road safety campaign.
Creecy said the country saw fewer road fatalities in the first half of December this year (1 December to 16 December) than in the same period last year.
Preliminary reports indicate a 20.9% reduction in fatal crashes and 20.8% reduction in fatalities in the middle of December.
However, holiday crashes continue to claim lives. In the Western Cape alone, 66 people were killed in 55 crashes in the first half of December.
Road fatalities per province
While Gauteng reduced crashes by 12%, it remains the leading contributor to the death toll.
In Gauteng, 105 people were killed in 95 crashes, and in KwaZulu-Natal, there were 88 fatalities in 85 crashes.
The Eastern Cape recorded 52 fatalities in 45 crashes, Mpumalanga has 69 fatalities in 50 crashes, North West has 34 deaths in 28 crashes, Limpopo has 40 road deaths in 34 crashes and Northern Cape has 31 road deaths in 20 crashes.
The Free State, with a 67.2% decrease in fatalities, is the best-performing province, reducing major crashes from 40 last year to 19 this year and road deaths from 61 to 20.
Nationally, the total number of fatal crashes at this time last year was 545, compared with 431 this year. The fatal crashes took 638 lives last year compared to 505 people this year.
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“This means we have saved 113 lives through law enforcement, awareness and education and should also mention the person-to-person advice on safer road use, which may have had its own share of success on this project. The average fatalities per day is 32, which is the lowest in five years,” said Creecy.
Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape recorded year-on-year increases in fatalities.
The top four types of crashes that contributed to the high number of fatalities are accidents with pedestrians, hit and run, single vehicle overturned, and head-on collisions.
However, pedestrians continue to account for a disproportionate share of the road toll, underscoring the ongoing vulnerability of non-motorised road users.
Pedestrians accounted for 44% of fatalities, passengers 28%, drivers 26% and cyclists 2%.
Heavy traffic
Creecy said the worst is not over yet, with heavy traffic volumes expected on the roads this weekend ahead of Christmas and New Year’s Day.
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Traffic volumes and congestion will increase again during the first weekend of January, as many holidaymakers return to cities for the reopening of schools and the return to work.
Human behaviour
While mid-season data show that enforcement has had an impact on incident rates, fatal crashes are still occurring at “unacceptable” levels, Creecy said.
“Alcohol misuse, speeding, fatigue and unsafe pedestrian behaviour remain the dominant risk factors.
“These patterns emphasise that law enforcement and infrastructure improvements alone are not enough. They must be paired with sustained behavioural change.”
During this period, 2 364 drivers were arrested for drunken driving, 236 for driving at excessive speeds, 178 for reckless and negligent driving, while 53 pedestrians were arrested for jaywalking on freeways and 26 motorists were arrested for attempting to bribe traffic officers.
“It can be noted that the number of arrests has increased by 16.2% compared to last year due to even more intensive law enforcement. We increased drunken driving arrests by 97.8% this year compared to last year.
“Pedestrians remain our priority concern over this period, and we have noticed fewer transgressions from this category and have seen a 57.9% decrease in pedestrian arrests. We have also noticed a 7.8% decrease in the number of drivers arrested for speeding, which could be attributed to increased law enforcement visibility.”
The highest speed was recorded in Gauteng, when a woman was caught driving at 193km/h in a 120km/h zone.
An Eastern Cape man was arrested after recording a breath alcohol content of 2.38 milligrams per 1 000 millilitres – 10 times above the legal limit.
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