Just 11 people caught using their mobile while driving in 2017

Only 22 were caught speeding

Statistics provided to this newspaper by the Malta Police Force for the year to date seem to imply that Maltese citizens are among the most law-abiding citizens on earth, especially when it comes to driving.

According to the figures, only 11 people were caught by the police using their mobile phones while driving between 1 January and 30 August.

And incredulously, only 22 people were caught speeding during the same period of time.

In all, 193 people have been caught using their phone whilst driving in the last five years (2012-2016).

With regard to speeding, 359 persons were caught by the police between 2012 and 2016.

On the other hand, the numbers rise significantly when it comes to other common contraventions, such as littering or dumping waste, smoking in non-smoking establishments and parking illegally.

Persons committing illegal parking offences were by far the highest, with a substantial 108,546 found parking illegally between 2012 and the end of September 2017.

Additionally, the police statistics revealed that, between 2012 up till the end of September 2017, a total of 15,348 people were caught smoking in non-smoking establishments.

Littering or dumping of rubbish is also a common offence; with 4,086 people fined by the police for the offence in the same period of time.

According to the provided data, 3,213 people were caught taking illegal substances/drugs between 2012 and the end of September of this year.

Overall Malta’s crime hub remains in St Julian’s with Sliema and St Paul’s bay not far behind.

In all, 17,298 crimes were reported last year around Malta and Gozo, which led to 2,822 arrests.

This figure is slightly higher than the total amount of crimes reported in 2015, which stood at 17,138.

15,348 people were caught smoking in nonsmoking establishments between 2012 and September 2017