BEIJING - Tightened measures to curb military vehicle misuses have reduced such violations markedly, said a senior Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) officer on Tuesday.

Since the launch of the new measures in late 2012, reports of military cars violating traffic regulations in Beijing have dropped by 35 percent compared with the same period last year, Sr. Col. Wu Xihua, vice director of the emergency response office of the PLA General Staff Headquarters, said at the press conference.

A new batch of military vehicle plates will be put into use from May 1 in lieu of the current ones, and it will help further regulate military vehicle use, according to Wu.

Non-military vehicles will not be allowed to use military plates, and manufacture of fake plates, embezzlement and misuse of military plates will also be strictly prohibited, the senior colonel said.