Johannesburg – Heightened law enforcement and awareness of road rules during Easter 2025 resulted in the lowest number of crashes and fatalities in the last three years, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has revealed.
More than 941 drivers were arrested for drunken driving and 1 536 vehicles were impounded by traffic police.
“Crashes were reduced from 209 in 2024 to 141 in 2025 which is a 32.5 percent overall decrease compared to 2024,” Minister Creecy said on Tuesday, (29 April 2025).
“All provinces recorded decreases except Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga which both recorded an increase.
“Fatalities were reduced from 307 in 2024 to 167 in 2025, which is a 45.6 percent decrease.”
Minister Creecy said all provinces recorded decreases in fatalities except Mpumalanga, which recorded a 27.3 percent increase compared to 2024.
She said 28 fatalities were recorded in Mpumalanga compared to 22 in 2024.
“We began our Easter road safety campaign on the 20th of March, and we had critical routes and had agreed that visible patrols on those routes would form the cornerstone of our traffic police deployment strategy,” Minister Creecy said.
“Consequently, when the Easter peak travel period came, we were well prepared.”
The minister ascribed the overall decrease in both accidents and fatalities to three factors:
- widespread and consistent law enforcement operations across all nine provinces;
- Co-ordinated action by national, provincial, and local government authorities; and
- Significant partnerships between civil society and government resulted in significant messaging that positively impacted driver behaviour through our “It Begins With Me” campaign.
“Our Easter campaign will end on the 4th of May because of the four long weekends that characterises this period,” Minister Creecy said.
“Long weekends are a period when the risk of fatal crashes and fatalities increases because of drunken driving, increased pedestrian movements, sports and social events, including increased traffic volumes on national and provincial routes.”
She said the highlights of the law enforcement performance during the Easter period (17 to 21 April) are as follows:
- 177 584 vehicles were stopped and checked.
- 44 505 traffic fines were issued.
- 2 018 vehicles were discontinued.
- 1 536 vehicles were impounded.
- 941 drivers were arrested for drunken driving.
- 89 drivers were arrested for excessive speeding.
- 12 pedestrians were arrested for jaywalking.
- 8 drunk drivers were arrested for attempting to bribe officers.
“The highest speed was recorded in the Planknek in Limpopo where a motorist was stopped while driving at 214 kilometres an hour in a 120 kilometre zone,” Minister Creecy said.
“The driver with the highest breath alcohol content was arrested in Tsolo in the Eastern Cape with an alcohol reading of 2.38 milligrams per 1000 millilitres of breath which is also almost ten times the legal breath alcohol limit.”
The provincial breakdown of fatalities per province is as follows:
- Eastern Cape 28 compared to 29 in 2024.
- Free state 7 compared to 12 in 2024.
- Gauteng 22 compared to 52 in 2024.
- KwaZulu Natal 27 compared to 47 in 2024.
- Limpopo 13 compared to 81 in 2024.
- Northern Cape 6 compared to 17 in 2024.
- Northwest 14 compared to 21 in 2024.
- Western Cape 22 compared to 26 in 2024.
“These statistics tell us that there is a benefit when we start our communication and education campaign earlier than the travel period,” Minister Creecy said.
“It shows that the involvement of civil society organisation and collaboration of all law enforcement agencies is pivotal in impacting on road user behaviour.
“Furthermore, joint planning by law enforcement agencies from national, provincial, and municipal level increases the impact of operations.”
The minister said the Easter weekend statistics are reflective of a broader downward trend in road accidents and accident-related fatalities.
“From January to March, we have seen a 16% decline in the number of fatalities and a 13% decrease in the total number of road accidents,” Minister Creecy said.
“Crashes decreased in eight provinces except Mpumalanga, which recorded the same number of crashes as in the previous year.”
Fatalities decreased in seven provinces except Free State, which had a 5% increase, and Mpumalanga had a 1 % increase
Fatalities involving pedestrians now account for 47 percent or almost half of all road deaths.
“This shocking reality indicates that our message to pedestrians is not reaching home and we have to do much more work at a local level where these accidents occur,” Minister Creecy said.
“Overall we now belief that it will be possible to meet our target to reduce crashes and fatalities by at least 50 percent by 2029.
“Our challenge is to sustain this achievement daily, weekly, and monthly.”
The minister added: “I want to thank all those who spared no effort ensuring that this Easter period was safer than the previous.
“My sincere gratitude goes to the MECs who coordinated road safety effort in their provinces to ensure the full implementation of our plan.
“I also thank traffic officers and members of the South African Police Services who worked day and night to deal with intransigence motorists who were unwilling to modify their behaviour.”
Minister Creecy said her heartfelt appreciation also goes to all the civil society organisations, private companies and media personality who assisted us to get the message across.
“Our country is proud of your patriotism. Let us continue this good work,” she said.
