Police are cracking down on people riding in cars without wearing seat belts.
New Jersey is participating in the national "Click It or Ticket" effort that focuses on education and the enforcement of seat belt laws, said Bob Gaydosh, spokesman for the Division of Highway Traffic Safety in the state Department of Law and Public Safety.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ran an $11 million television advertising campaign to educate the public on the program and the importance of seat belt safety, Gaydosh said.
The state ran a $487,000 radio advertisement campaign to bring awareness of the program and seat belt safety, Gaydosh said.
Signs reading "Click It or Ticket" are being posted along major roadways all across the state to remind people to fasten their safety belts, said Gaydosh.
Municipal police departments all over the state were encouraged to participate in the "Buckle Up America" program, part of the "Click It or Ticket" effort, which ran May 19 through June 1, Gaydosh said. During those two weeks, municipal police heavily enforced the seat belt laws.
There will be another two-week period when police will be out in full force enforcing the seatbelt laws from Nov. 18 through Dec. 1, said Lt. Stephen Schmidt of the Hazlet Police Department, which participates in the program.
The 267 police departments statewide that participated in the program had officers work overtime with the specific goal of ticketing people who were not wearing their seat belts, Gaydosh said.
In the two weeks the program ran, there were 22,941 seat belt tickets given out statewide, Gaydosh said.
The state gave out grants to 69 of the 267 departments that participated in "Buckle Up America." The Hazlet and Middletown police departments each received $3,600 in grants from the state to pay for overtime in connection with the effort, Gaydosh said.
"The money that has been appropriated for this program has been designed to increase seat belt usage and significantly reduce the risk of injuries," Middletown Police Chief John Pollinger said.
Now, Pollinger said, the police are trying to get the people to comply and help the police protect them.
Hazlet had 10 officers worked overtime with the specific goal of giving out seat belt violation tickets, Schmidt said.
Hazlet police issued 231 seat belt violation tickets in a two-week period in May, Schmidt said. Of the 231 tickets, 135 were given out by the 10 officers working overtime. Each ticket carries a $42 fine and no points, Gaydosh said.
"The point is to aggressively enforce the seat belt law," Gaydosh said.
Drivers and frontseat passengers must wear seat belts, according to state law NJS 39:376.2f. A passenger who is at least 8 years old, but less than 18 years old, must wear a seat belt even when riding in the back seat of a car. The driver is responsible for ensuring that all passengers under age 18 are safely secured in the vehicle, according to state law.
Any child under the age of 8, or any person under 80 pounds, must ride in a safety or booster seat in the back of the vehicle, according to state law NJS 39:376.2a.
Statewide seat belt use by drivers and passengers has steadily increased over the past seven years, Gaydosh said.
A state survey on seat belt use conducted last month revealed that 81.2 percent of the public uses seat belts, up from 80.5 percent last year.
"Enforcement seems to get more compliance than just education alone," Schmidt said.
In 2000, Gaydosh said, the primary seatbelt law that allows police officers to pull over drivers simply because the occupants of the vehicle are not safely secured, was enacted.
Before 2000, only 65 percent of New Jersey drivers and passengers were wearing seat belts, according to the New Jersey State Police.
"In 2002, a crash occurred every 10 seconds in the nation and every 12 minutes in New Jersey," Pollinger said.
According to national statistics, wearing a seat belt reduces the chance of injury in a motor vehicle accident by 50 percent, and reduces the chance of death in a motor vehicle accident by 45 percent.
The risk of death is 25 times greater in a car accident if a seat belt is not worn, Chief Pollinger said.
More than 42,000 people have been killed on U.S. highways in the past year, said N.J. State Police Capt. Thomas Dreher, the traffic bureau chief.
"Last year more than 750 people were killed on New Jersey’s roads," said Roberto Rodriguez, the Highway Traffic Safety director. "The real tragedy is that many of these lives could have been saved."
— Maura Dowgin, staff writer, and
Erin Romanski, correspondent