The Hopewell Township Police Department is taking part in the annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign, urging motorists to buckle up and wear their seat belts or receive a summons for failure to do so.
The”Click It or Ticket” campaign kicks off May 20 and runs through June 2. Police will use high-visibility seat belt checkpoints and saturation patrols during the two-week effort. The goal is to encourage drivers and passengers alike to use a seat belt.
This year’s campaign will focus on promoting the use of seat belts for front- and rear-seat passengers. Nearly 95 percent of front-seat passengers buckle up, but less than half of rear-seat passengers use a seat belt in New Jersey.
“For whatever reason, there seems to be a disconnect with people feeling they don’t need to buckle up when riding as passengers in rear seats,” said Eric Heitman, director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Safety.
“By promoting back-seat usage of seat belts during the Click It or Ticket campaign, we are encouraging passenger habits that will save lives,” Heitman said. Between 2013 and 2017, seat belt usage saved nearly 69,000 lives annually.
During the 2018 campaign, 357 New Jersey police departments took part in the two-week campaign and handed out 19,659 seat belt citations, 4,437 speeding summonses and arrested 661 impaired drivers.