Police Chief Robert Geisler has advised that police will join with officers from around the country in cracking down on unbuckled motorists and passengers as part of the national “Click It or Ticket” campaign.
Running through June 6, the annual “Click It or Ticket” national mobilization uses high visibility seatbelt checkpoints and saturation patrols, in combination with local and national policy efforts, to highight the life-saving value of seatbelts.
“Using a seatbelt is the simplest way for motor vehicle occupants to protect themselves on the road,” said Eric Heitmann, Director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety. “Crash statistics show that in 2017 alone, seatbelt use saved nearly 15,000 lives nationally.”
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In New Jersey, a key focus of this year’s “Click It or Ticket” campaign is to promote seatbelt use by adults in all seating positions, front and back. The front seatbelt usage rate in New Jersey stands at 90.23 percent. Adults riding in back are bucking up at a significantly lower rate, only 48 percent, according to recent surveys.
“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, and this is a concern,” Heitmann said. “By promoting backseat usage of seatbelts during our ‘Click It or Ticket’ campaign, we’re encouraging passenger habits that will save lives.”
The 2020 “Click It or Ticket” mobilization was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2019 “Click It or Ticket” campaign, 343 New Jersey police agencies participated in the two-week initiative. As a result, law enforcement officers issued 14,548 seatbelt citations, 5,670 speeding summonses, and made 858 impaired driving arrests.
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