This year’s Easter Weekend road safety report shows the South has recorded the lowest crashes and deaths in the last three years.
“The crash has decreased from 209 in 2024 to 141 in 2025. This is a 32.5% overall decrease compared to 2024,” Transport Minister Barbara Creecy said Tuesday.
According to the minister, all states recorded declined, except for the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga, both recorded an increase.
“Deaths fell from 307 in 2024 to 167 in 2025. This is a 45.6% decrease. All states recorded a decrease in deaths except Mpumalanga, which recorded a 27.3% increase compared to 2024.
“Twenty-eight deaths have been recorded in Mpumalanga compared to 22 in 2024,” Creacy said in Pretoria during a media briefing.
The Road Safety Arvey Alive campaign for the 2025 Easter season will begin on March 20th and will run until May 2nd, 2025 under the theme “It starts with me.”
The government believes the overall decline in both accidents and deaths stems from widespread and consistent law enforcement practices across all nine states. coordinated actions by national, local governments, and local authorities, and key partnerships between civil society and government.
“Long weekends are a time when the risk of fatal crashes and fatalities increases due to drunk driving, increased pedestrian movements, and increased sports and social events.
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“These statistics show that launching communication and education campaigns earlier than travel time is beneficial. They show that the involvement of civil society organisations and cooperation between all law enforcement agencies is crucial in affecting road users’ behaviour.
“In addition, joint plans by law enforcement at the national, local and local government levels will increase the impact of operations,” she said.
The minister said Easter weekend statistics are a reflexive or broader downward trend in street accidents and accident-related deaths.
“From January to March, the number of deaths fell by 16%, and the total number of traffic accidents fell by 13%.
“The crash fell in eight states except Mpumalanga, which recorded the same number of conflicts as last year,” she said.
Deaths in seven states except for free states have decreased, increasing by 5%, while Mpumalanga has increased by 1%.
Pedestrian-involved deaths currently account for 47% or nearly half of all road deaths.
“This shocking reality shows that the message to pedestrians has not reached the home, and we have to do more work at the local level where these accidents occur.
“Overall, we believe we can now achieve our goal to reduce crashes and deaths by at least 50% by 2029. Our challenge is to maintain this achievement daily, weekly, and monthly,” the minister said.
