Law enforcement officers from the Lakewood Jackson Township Police Departments will join with police from around the country in cracking down on unbuckled motorists and passengers as part of the national “Click it or Ticket” campaign.
Beginning May 23 and running through June 5, the annual “Click It or Ticket” national mobilization utilizes high visibility seat belt checkpoints and saturation patrols, in combination with local and national publicity efforts, to reiterate the life-saving value of seat belts.
According to the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, in 2021 there were 701 people in the state killed in traffic crashes. 37% of the motor vehicle occupants who died in these crashes were not wearing a seat belt. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that seat belt use reduces the risk of serious injury or death in a crash by 45%.
In New Jersey, a key focus of this year’s Click It or Ticket campaign is to promote seat belt usage by adults in all seating positions in the vehicle, both front AND rear seats. The front seat belt usage rate in New Jersey currently stands at 93.9%. However, adults riding in rear seats are buckling up at a significantly lower rate, only 48% according to the most recent surveys.
During the 2021 Click it or Ticket campaign, 134 New Jersey police agencies participated in the two-week initiative. As a result of the effort, law enforcement officers issued 9,755 seat belt citations, 3,936 speeding summonses and made 555 impaired driving arrests.