Easter road deaths hit three-year low on campaign, says Creecy

This year saw the fewest crashes and fatalities over the Easter period in the past three years, after a national Easter road safety campaign launched on March 20.

Transport minister Barbara Creecy said all provinces recorded decreases except Mpumalanga. “Crashes were reduced from 209 in 2024 to 141 in 2025, which is a 32.5% overall decrease,” she said.

“Fatalities were reduced from 307 in 2024 to 167 in 2025, which is a 45.6% decrease. All provinces recorded decreases in fatalities compared to 2024, except Mpumalanga, which recorded a 27.3% increase — 28 fatalities compared with 22 in 2024.”

Other provinces’ fatalities were:

• Eastern Cape: 28 (29 in 2024);
• Free State: 7 (12);
• Gauteng: 22 (52);
• KwaZulu-Natal: 27 (47);
• Limpopo: 13 (81)
• Northern Cape: 6 (17)
• North West: 14 (21); and
• Western Cape: 22 (26).

“These statistics tell us that there is a benefit when we start our communication and education campaign earlier than the travel period,” said Creecy.

“Overall we now believe that it will be possible to meet our target to reduce crashes and fatalities by at least 50% by 2029. Our challenge is to sustain this achievement daily, weekly and monthly.” 

According to the Easter weekend road safety report, the success of the campaign was attributed to three main factors:

• Widespread and consistent law enforcement operations across all nine provinces.
• Strong co-ordination between national, provincial and local government authorities.
• Active participation of civil society groups and stakeholders in spreading the message of responsibility.

“Our Easter campaign will end on May 4 because of the four long weekends in this period” said Creecy.

Long weekends are periods when incidents typically rise due to alcohol abuse, pedestrian movement, sports events and increased traffic volumes.

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