Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian police will be giving a 50 per cent discount to traffic offenders who pay their fines within 30 days of being charged, police said Tuesday.

The new ruling, which would be applicable for almost all traffic offences and would hopefully ease the burden on lower-income earners, a police spokesman said.

The discount offer comes into effect Tuesday for an indefinite period of time.

"Our focus is to try and ease the burden on the lower-and middle-class group," Kuala Lumpur's traffic chief Hamza Taib was quoted as saying by the Star daily.

The 50 per cent discount would be applicable for those who pay their summons within 30 days of receiving their fines, he said.

"Offenders who have yet to pay their summons and have not received letters summoning them to court are eligible for a 30 per cent discount.

"Those who have received the court summons are not eligible for any discount," he said.

He said those caught jumping red lights and motorists involved in accidents would not qualify for the discounts.

Hamza said the move would help improve the rate of summons payments, adding that some 12,000 traffic summonses for a range of offences are issued every day nationwide.

The announcement has drawn criticisms that discounts would encourage motorists to flout traffic laws, leading to a higher rate of accidents.

In 2006, there were 341,252 road accidents nationwide, a big leap from 328,000 recorded the year before. Official records also show that there were 6,287 recorded deaths in 2006. (dpa)