Historic decline in festive season road fatalities in KZN

THE 2025/2026 festive season in KwaZulu-Natal is being marked by a "historic decrease" in road fatalities and accidents, alongside a strong performance by the South Coast tourism sector, despite a shorter overall holiday period.

- KAREN SINGH

Siboniso Duma, MEC for Transport and Human Settlements, said that while final figures will be released after the end of the festive season period by Transport Minister, Barbra Creecy, the department welcomed the historic decrease in road fatalities and accidents.

From the start of the festive season to January 2, 2026, Duma reported a decrease in both crashes and fatalities when comparing 2025 to the previous year, 2024.

In 2025, there were 187 crashes and 207 fatalities, down from 203 crashes and 237 fatalities in 2024. This represents an 8% decrease in crashes and a 13% decrease in fatalities.

"We attribute the decrease to the successful execution of the #NenzaniLaEzweni Operation by the Road Traffic Inspectorate," said Duma.

Duma said the operation also focused on massive arrests for drunk driving. Since August 15 to the early morning of January 3, 3 201 motorists were arrested.

He reported that 28 145 motorists were charged with various traffic regulation violations.

Duma said drunken driving, speeding, and noncompliance with the rules of the road are key contributors to road fatalities. The deployment of the RTI team from Empangeni to the border and cross-border routes is clearly yielding significant results, he added.