Click it or Ticket Starting Now

"Click It or Ticket" starts now, meaning buckle up or be at greater risk of getting a ticket - not to mention getting injured in an accident.

Point Borough is one of nearly 150 law enforcement agencies throughout the state that received a grant for extra seat belt enforcement, which starts today and continues through June 3.

Point Borough, like most of the other police departments, received $4,000 to run the seatbelt enforcement checkpoints and saturation patrols, according to a prepared statement from the state Attorney General's office.

Point Beach did not receive the grant this year, but will still be enforcing the seat belt law as part of their standard enforcement.

The period of time for the extra enforcement includes Memorial Day weekend, one of the busiest times on the roads.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), 22,187 passenger vehicle occupants were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2010 and 51 percent of them were not wearing seat belts at the time of their fatal crashes.

NHTSA statistics show that in 2010 alone, seat belts saved an estimated 12,546 lives nationwide.

“Buckling up is the single most effective way for a motor vehicle occupant to avoid death or serious injury in a crash,” Division of Highway Traffic Safety Acting Director Gary Poedubicky said. “During what we expect to be a highly trafficked period, motorists and their passengers need to make their safety the top priority and wear their seat belt no matter how long the journey.”

The Click It or Ticket campaign has been credited with raising New Jersey’s seat belt compliance numbers since the state adopted the program in 2003.

According to a 2011 observational survey conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University, 94.51 percent of front-seat motorists and passengers wore their seatbelts, compared with just 81.2 percent in 2003.

That is a continuation of an increase that has been occurring consistently each year during the past 15 years, and that level of compliance places the Garden State among the national leaders, according to the statement.

However, the statement also says that authorities want to get the rate of front seat compliance up to 100 percent.

What's more troubling, however, is that rear seat compliance is only at 35 percent, according to the statement.

“Our goal is undoubtedly 100 percent compliance with seat belts. While we’ve seen the front-seat usage rate climb every year for the past 14 years, passengers in the back remain at a critical risk, especially adults, who only put on a seat belt in the back 35 percent of the time,” Poedubicky said.

Last year, 85 percent of New Jersey police agencies, or 419 of 493, participated in the Click It or Ticket campaign. The mobilization ran from May 23 to June 5 and resulted in 32,228 seat belt citations, down from 35,671 in 2010. Police officers also wrote 926 child restraint and 5,865 speeding citations, and made 953 drunken driving arrests.

Legislation passed in 2010 made it a secondary offense for adults over the age of 18 to ride unbuckled in the back seat of a motor vehicle. The law allows police to issue a summons and fine of $46 to unrestrained adults in the back seat when the car they are riding in is pulled over for another violation.

The state’s primary seat belt law requires all motorists and passengers in the front seat, including passengers under the age of 18, to wear a seat belt or be securely buckled in a car seat, or face a $46 fine. This ticket is issued to the driver.

For a list of all the agencies receiving grants for the Click It or Ticket crackdowns, please go to:

http://www.nj.gov/oag/hts/downloads/CIOT_2012_Grant_Recipients.pdf.