NJ Police Cracking Down On Seatbelt Safety As Crash Deaths Increase

NEW JERSEY - Amid an increase in fatal car crashes in the Garden State, law enforcement agencies are stepping up to enforce buckling up on New Jersey roads with a “no-excuses” approach.

A record 145 law enforcement agencies have received grants from the state, totaling over $890,000, to target drivers and passengers who don’t buckle up. The campaign began on Monday and will run through June 5.

Police officers across the state will be taking a “no-excuses” approach to seat belt enforcement in upcoming weeks, writing citations throughout the day and with a particular focus on nighttime enforcement in the annual Click It or Ticket campaign, according to Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin.

The maximum penalty for a seat belt violation is $46, Platkin said.

“Wearing a seatbelt is the single most effective way to prevent death and serious injury in a car crash,” said Platkin. “Educating the public on the importance of buckling up is critical to our ongoing efforts to reverse the alarming uptick in fatal crashes and prevent the senseless loss of lives on New Jersey roadways.”

Last year, agencies participating in the Click It or Ticket campaign issued 9,755 seat belt citations statewide, wrote 3,936 speeding tickets and made 555 impaired driving arrests.

Nearly 43,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2021, the most since 2005 with an average of 117 deaths per day, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports. In fact, crash deaths rose by 10.5 percent in 2021 compared to the year before, making it the largest annual percentage increase in the history of NHTSA’ Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

In New Jersey, fatal crashes rose to 672 last year – 21 percent higher than the year before. The number of lives lost in those crashes rose nearly 20 percent to 702.

“The instant you buckle up, you cut your risk of a fatal injury in a crash nearly in half. Yet preliminary data shows that 38 percent of all motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes last year were not wearing their seatbelts – the vast majority of them drivers. That has to change,” said Eric Heitmann, Director of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety. “Our law enforcement officers see firsthand the consequences of not buckling up. Click It or Ticket is their chance to motivate people to buckle up before it’s too late. If you aren’t wearing your seatbelt during this enforcement campaign, expect to be pulled over and ticketed.”

See how much grant funding your local police department received here.