Trenton
– Law enforcement agencies throughout
the state will be cracking down on unbuckled
motorists and their passengers as part of
the annual “Click It or Ticket”
campaign, Division of Highway Traffic Safety
Director Pam Fischer announced today. This
year’s effort will also emphasize
the life-saving importance of buckling up
in every seating position in the vehicle.
Beginning
May 24 and running through June 6, the effort
will include law enforcement seat belt checkpoints
and saturation patrols, as well as local
and national publicity designed to ensure
that drivers and passengers recognize the
importance of buckling up, every ride. As
part of the mobilization, the Division will
provide grants of $4,000 each to 157 police
agencies throughout the state. The New Jersey
State Police will also participate in the
two-week program. Additional police departments
are also expected to participate using their
own resources.
According to the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA), “Click
It or Ticket” is credited with increasing
the national seat belt usage rate from 58
percent in 1994 to 84 percent in 2009. In
addition, in 2008 the effort continued to
have a life-saving impact, with approximately
13,250 lives saved across the nation as
a result of buckling up.
Fischer
added that for the first time, the campaign
will focus on back seat belt usage by adults
18 and older. On January 18, 2010, legislation
was signed into law requiring all occupants
to buckle up, regardless of their seating
position in a vehicle. A secondary offense,
the new law allows police to issue summonses
to unbuckled back seat occupants, 18 years
of age and older,
when the vehicle they are riding in is stopped
for another violation. Adult passengers
who fail to buckle up when riding in the
back could be subject to a $46 fine. (Under
the state’s current primary seat belt
law, all motorists and passengers in the
front seat, as well as all passengers under
18, who are not properly restrained in a
seat belt or car seat also face a $46 fine.
This ticket is issued to the driver.)
“Last
year, the front seat belt usage rate in
New Jersey rose for the 13th consecutive
year to 92.67 percent, bringing law enforcement
and highway safety officials closer to their
goal of a 100 percent compliance rate,”
Fischer said. “While front seat belt
use continues to increase, the sobering
news is that only 32 percent of back seat
passengers over the age of 18 currently
buckle up. Since 2000, when the state’s
primary seat belt law went into effect,
272 unbelted backseat passengers have lost
their lives in traffic crashes.”
Fischer
stressed that individuals must always remember
to buckle up, regardless of the type of
vehicle they’re riding in, or where
they’re sitting in that vehicle.
“If
you commute in a carpool or vanpool, remember
it’s not just your safety that’s
at stake,” Fischer said. “Unbuckled,
back seat passengers become bullets in the
event of a crash –
they continue to travel at the same rate
of speed as the vehicle they’re riding
in until they hit something. By not buckling
up, you could be the reason why a co-worker
is seriously injured, or even worse, killed
in a crash. Buckle up not just for yourself,
but for your co-workers, your family, and
everyone who is counting on you to arrive
at your destination safely.”
“The single most important thing that
a driver or passenger can do in an automobile,
which may one day save their lives, is to
buckle up,” said Raymond P. Martinez,
Acting Chief Administrator, Motor Vehicle
Commission. “Click it or ticket, it’s
the law.”
"Highlighting
the importance of seatbelts for drivers
and passengers alike is especially timely
with the family vacation season fast approaching,"
said New Jersey Department of Transportation
Commissioner Jim Simpson. "Seat belts
save lives, so every occupant of every vehicle
should buckle up for safety."
During
the 2009 Click It or Ticket” campaign,
443 police agencies participated in the
two-week initiative. As a result of the
effort, law enforcement officers issued
41,442 seat belt citations, 6,833 speeding
summonses and made 866 drunk driving arrests.
A list of agencies receiving “Click
It or Ticket” grants is available
on the Division’s web site, at www.nj.gov/oag/hts/grants/grantees.html
.
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