KUALA LUMPUR: The number of fatal accidents during the Op Selamat 10/2017 in conjunction with the Chinese New Year has decreased by 10 per cent as compared to last year.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim shared the statistics at the closing of the Op Selamat at Bukit Aman, this morning.

The special operation was conducted on highways nationwide.

Noor Rashid said this year’s operation recorded 235 fatal accidents, a drop by 26 cases against last year’s.

The number of fatalities also dropped from 279 deaths last year to 257 deaths.

Rashid said motorcyclists were the largest contributors to the casualty count, amounting to 151 deaths. Last year, it was 158 deaths.

According to him, overall, police recorded 20,752 accidents this year, as compared to 19,572 last year.

He said Malaysian drivers need to change their driving attitude as the loss of lives could affect the human productivity of the country.

Federal police traffic enforcement and investigation director Datuk Mahamad Akhir Darus said police have handed out 255,392 summonses throughout the special operation.

Mahamad said the offence with the highest number is exceeding the speed limit, where police issued 128,903 summonses.

This was followed by driving on the emergency lane (1,522), crossing the double line (658), cutting queue(3,557), running a red light (3,983), and using mobile phone while driving (1,516).-nst