Hudson County Sheriff’s Office Joins 2019 Seatbelt Crackdown

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — Officers from the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) will join agencies across the nation in cracking down on unbuckled motorists and passengers as part of the national “Click it or Ticket” campaign.

According to a news release from the HCSO, beginning on May 20 and running through June 2, the annual “Click It or Ticket” mobilization will use high-visibility seatbelt checkpoints and saturation patrols, in combination with local and national publicity efforts, to reiterate the life-saving value of seat belts.

“My officers will be out day and night enforcing the seatbelt law,” Hudson County Sheriff Frank Schillari said. “Seatbelts do save lives and this campaign will help us remind people it is important to wear your seatbelt. Cars are built a lot better than they were just 20 years ago, but many of those important safety measures are negated by an occupant failing to wear a seatbelt. Between 2013 to 2017 statistics show about 69,000 individuals were saved by wearing seatbelts.”

According to police, 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 94.47%. However, adults riding in rear seats are buckling up at a significantly lower rate, only 48% according to a recent survey.

“I’d like to remind drivers and those riding as passengers in a vehicle that all occupants of a vehicle must be belted, even if they are in the rear seat,” Schillari said. “People in front seats are wearing their belts at a much higher percentage and according to the stats, rear seat passengers are still dying or being injured severely because they were not belted. These tragedies are avoidable.”

The HCSO received a state grant to help fund the added patrols and will be joined by two other Hudson County law enforcement agencies that received the grant: the Secaucus Police Department and the North Bergen Police Department.

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