Festive season road stats for 2025/26 period

By Johnathan Paoli

South Africa’s roads remain perilous during the festive season, with official data showing that fatalities have hovered within a narrow but deadly range over the past three years, with a slight uptick recorded in the most recent reporting period.

According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s (RTMC) consolidated festive season reports, a total of 1,560 people were killed on South African roads during the 2022/23 festive season, followed by a marginal decline to 1,552 fatalities in 2023/24.

That improvement proved short-lived.

During the 2024/25 festive period, covering 1 December 2024 to 11 January 2025, 1,589 people died in 1,286 fatal crashes, marking a 2.38% increase from the previous season and reversing the earlier stagnation.

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy launched the 2025/26 festive-season road safety campaign in early December, revealing that more than 9,400 road fatalities have been recorded nationally this year, despite a year-on-year reduction of about