There were fewer road traffic accidents, including those involving fatalities, recorded last year despite the recent spotlight on serious cases of accidents here.

Statistics released this morning by the Traffic Police show that there was a total of 7,168 accidents on the roads last year, which was 9.6 per cent lower than the 7,926 cases recorded in 2011.

The number of fatalities also decreased from 195 to 169 or about 13 per cent over the same period.

The number of traffic violations, however, was up about 4 per cent, from 316,214 to 327,503 cases. This means that about 900 people commit traffic offences everyday here.

In order to tackle such problems, the Traffic Police will be tapping on more technology and start deploying Auxiliary Police Officers to beef up its enforcement efforts against offences such as illegal U-turning.

The Traffic Police also said that it is on target to digitise all of its red-light cameras by 2014, when giving an update on a move it unveiled last June.

Then the Traffic Police said that it has been digitising their enforcement cameras so that summonses can be issued more quickly since 2011.

The latest figures comes in the light of the accident earlier this week, when brothers Nigel and Donavan Yap were killed after being hit by a cement-mixer truck in Tampines.

Second Minister for Home Affairs S. Iswaran yesterday said that motorists could face tighter enforcement, including the deployment of more speed and red light cameras, increased police presence, and the prospect of harsher penalties for traffic violations in school zones.

More effort will also be made to raise awareness and educate road users, including the young and elderly, on road safety, he added quoting findings from an ongoing review by the Traffic Police.