Since the extra demerit point system was implemented at school zones on Jan 1, Traffic Police reported 17 speeding offences in school zones; 11 drivers were caught beating the red light; 16 for careless driving and one for inconsiderate driving.

On Thursday morning, the media observed how the Traffic Police conducted their enforcement in three school zones in the eastern part of Singapore. Two Traffic Police officers were stationed outside Temasek Secondary School on Upper East Coast Road to catch motorists speeding down the road, which has a speed limit of 50km/hr.

Within 15 minutes of operations, Traffic Police caught a female van driver speeding down the road. The two officers chased after the driver in their motorbikes. She eventually stopped by the side of the road and her particulars were taken down. She declined to speak to the media.

In the three-hour operation which also covered school zones at Temasek Primary School in Bedok and Punggol Green Primary School in Punggol, only two speeding violations were detected in the school zone outside Temasek Secondary School.

Traffic Police revealed that traffic violations reported increased by about 12 per cent to 275,501 cases in the first nine months of last year, as compared to the same period in 2012. Statistics showed there was an increase in speeding, red running, inconsiderate driving and careless driving cases.

As part of stepped up enforcement against errant motorists in school zones, an extra demerit point applies to all motorists caught committing the offence of careless driving, inconsiderate driving, beating the red light, or speeding within school zones.

Probationary drivers who beat red light within a school zone could have driving licence revoked.

Not all schools are now demarcated by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) as a school zone. But the LTA will start demarcating secondary schools as such from the second quarter of next year. This will be completed by end-2015. There are more than 300 school zones at primary and special schools.