Fatal and injury traffic accidents fell by 10.6%, from 7,188 cases in 2012 to 6,426 cases in 2013, despite traffic violations rising by the same percentage point, or 332,206 violations in 2012 to 367,496 in 2013.
In a press release, the Traffic Police (TP) revealed that the total number of fatalities decreased from 168 in 2012 to 159 last year. Included in this category are two groups identified as vulnerable road users, namely motorcyclists and pillion riders, and the elderly.
At the same time, the upward trend in traffic violations is a cause for concern, as every traffic violation can potentially result in a fatal or injury accident and the loss of lives.
TP noted that speeding continued to make up the largest portion of traffic violations, followed by red-running and careless driving. 2013 saw a total number of 260,512 speeding violations detected, compared to 245,427 detected in 2012.
Accidents involving heavy vehicles were also highlighted, for the propensity for such vehicles to cause greater harm in an accident due to their larger size. The number of fatalities that resulted from accidents involving heavy vehicles rose by 37.5% from 32 in 2012 to 44 in 2013.
Recalcitrant traffic offenders, who were detected more than once for committing a serious moving offence, increased by 0.2% of all licence holders from 8,246 license holders in 2011, to 12,279 licence holders in 2013.
Increased police presence and the use of technology like the digitization of red light cameras will be implemented in 2014 to step up enforcement efforts in deterring and detecting traffic offenders.
See the chart below for a quick understanding of the numbers:
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