'Click it or Ticket' Enforcement Begins In Metuchen

METUCHEN, NJ — The Metuchen Police Department will be cracking down on unbuckled motorists and passengers as part of the national "Click it or Ticket" campaign.

The enforcement begins Monday and will run through June 5. The annual "Click It or Ticket" highlights the life-saving value of seat belts.

This year, 145 law enforcement agencies received Division of Highway Traffic Safety grants totaling more than $890,000 to help pay for enforcement initiatives during the two-week campaign. Metuchen Police got $7,000.

“Wearing a seat belt is the single most effective way to prevent death and serious injury in a car crash,” Acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. “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.”

According to the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, 672 people were killed in traffic crashes last year in New Jersey. Thirty-seven percent of motor vehicle occupants who died in these crashes were not wearing a seat belt.

Preliminary year-to-date data show that crashes and fatalities are up more than 15 percent from May 22, 2021, putting the state on track for another sharp increase by year’s end, according to Platkin's office.

The idea of the campaign in New Jersey is to encourage seat belt usage by adults in all seating positions in the vehicle - front and rear seats.

During the 2021 "Click it or Ticket" campaign, law enforcement officers across the state issued 9,755 seat belt citations, 3,936 speeding summonses and made 555 impaired driving arrests.

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