The department of transport aims to reduce accidents and fatalities on the road by 50% by 2030. If the 2025/2026 statistics are anything to go by, the Eastern Cape is off to a good start, having recorded the biggest reduction in fatalities, at 33%.
Fatalities decreased from 251 in the 2024/25 period to 167 in 2025/26. Fatal crashes also declined from 176 to 139.
Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha revealed this on Friday. A day earlier, transport minister Barbara Creecy announced she wants the drinking and driving policy, formulated about 30 years ago and which regulates drivers’ blood alcohol levels, to be “scrapped”.
Releasing the festive season road report from December 1 to January 14 on Thursday, Creecy revealed the province is number one among the five provinces that recorded a reduction in road fatalities, followed by Free State.
Creecy also revealed that preliminary data indicates a 5% reduction in both fatalities and crashes for this year’s festive season, compared to the same period in the previous year.
Nationally, a total of 1 427 fatalities were recorded from 1 172 crashes, with Creecy describing the number of deaths caused by road accidents as a reason for “national shame”.
As usual, speeding and drunk driving remain the major causes of road accidents.
Creecy said the data shows that the 2025/2026 festive season recorded the lowest number of crashes in five years, and the same number of fatalities as in the 2023/2024 festive season.
Creecy said there was a noticeable increase in the number of crashes and fatalities from December 15 to 28.
“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,” Creecy said.
Many of the crashes happened over weekends between 7pm and 9pm and between midnight and 1am and involved collisions with pedestrians, hit and run, single vehicle overturns and head-on collisions.
Creecy said a downward trajectory in road crashes and fatalities has also been observed in annual statistics, where preliminary data shows that the number of road collisions and deaths for the twelve months in 2025 is the lowest in five years.
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.
“The 2025 crashes decreased by 6.4% when compared to 2024, and fatalities decreased by 6.2% in the same period.
“I also want to thank [all stakeholders] for your hard work and dedication, which has, in large measure, contributed to this reduction and, for the first time in many years, set us on the way to achieving a 50% reduction in accidents and fatalities by 2030.
“In the coming year, we will once again work with provinces and municipalities to improve consistent traffic law enforcement on our roads, particularly on weekends and public holidays.
“We will also increase our education and enforcement work targeting pedestrians in towns, cities and rural areas. Half of all road deaths are men, women, and children walking alongside or crossing roads.
“Death on our roads is not like old age. There is nothing inevitable or unavoidable about it. Analysis of reported crashes throughout the year confirms that human behaviour and particularly reckless driver behaviour remains the leading cause of road trauma.
The country’s driving and drinking policy was formulated about 30 years ago, and the minister said in SA it’s “totally unacceptable that there is a law that allows people to drink and then drive. I have never understood this.
“I cannot explain this to anyone who has lost a parent, a brother, a sister, a child as a result of a road accident.
“The time has come for us to amend the law so we have a clear-cut, easy-to-understand and unambiguous policy that says drinking and driving is not allowed.
“A law that allows drivers to drink a certain amount and get behind the wheel of a car must be scrapped. So we will begin an amendment to section 65 of the National Road Traffic Act. If nothing else, we owe this to the memory of the many fellow South Africans who have lost their lives on our roads.”
Nqatha revealed that;
- Vehicles stopped and checked increased from 226,846 to 301,462
- Vehicles suspended rose from 318 to 763
- Public transport vehicles impounded increased from 36 to 281
- Warrants of arrest executed rose from 245 to 425
- Arrests for drunken driving increased from 705 to 1,450
The highest alcohol reading was recorded on the R61 near Bizana, where a driver tested at 2.80 milligrams per 1,000 millilitres of breath, far exceeding the legal limit of 0.24 milligrams.
Arrests included six cases of bribery involving traffic officers, one case involving possession of dagga and an illegal firearm, and the arrest of a taxi operator for impersonating an authorised officer.
Nqatha said: “Our journey towards achieving the objectives of the National Development Plan and the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2030 demonstrates that the Eastern Cape has made steady and measurable progress over the past five years.
“The statistics we present today tell only part of the story. On the surface, festive season crashes appear to have stabilised compared to the previous year. However, when these figures are assessed against the significant increase in the number of registered vehicles in the province at the start of the 2025/2026 festive season, a different picture emerges — one of progress achieved against extraordinary odds.
“Our robust law enforcement operations and zero tolerance for lawlessness have once again confirmed that the leading causes of road fatalities are both avoidable and preventable.”
Daily Dispatch
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