road traffic crashes are one of the worst risks of road mobility worldwide, representing a huge socio--economic problem particularly in developing countries such as south africa. in order to provide a sound economic basis for investment decisions to address this challenge, it is critical to assess the cost of these crashes. these estimates serve cost--benefit analysis inputs to facilitate a more efficient resources allocation for interventions to address the challenge posed by road crashes. south africa has not been updating crash cost estimates on a regular basis, and those that were conducted used the much criticised human capital approach. therefore, the available estimates could not be relied upon for planning purposes and comparison with the estimates of other countries. it is against this background that this study developed and illustrated the application of a hybrid framework for assessing the cost of road traffic crashes in south africa. the framework uses the human capital approach and the willingness--to--pay approach in one study. human capital approach cost estimates are needed to inform planning to maximize the national output, while the willingness--to--pay estimates are more suitable when the main concern is to inform interventions to increase social welfare by reducing injuries and fatalities. the willingness--to--pay approach uses the contingent valuation and the stated preference methods. a survey questionnaire with contingent valuation and stated preference questions was administered in two phases to a sample of 273 respondents within the transport industry. for the human capital approach, the cost estimates in the 2016 cost of crashes in south africa report were adjusted for inflation using the 2017 rate of 5.3% to obtain 2017 cost estimates. this study revealed that the human capital approach underestimates the cost of road crashes. the study contributes to the body of knowledge by using the human capital approach and the willingness--to--pay approach in one study to illustrate the applicability of this hybrid/ combination within the south african context. future research needs to replicate this study on a sample drawn from all nine provinces of south africa, so that the cost estimates are representative of the country’s population.