'Click It Or Ticket': Howell Part Of Seat Belt Safety Campaign

HOWELL, NJ — Drivers in Howell are being reminded it's the law to buckle up, including for those riding in the back seat, police say.

Law enforcement officers from the Howell Township Police Department will join with police from around the state and country in citing unbuckled motorists and passengers as part of the national “Click It or Ticket” campaign, the department announced.

Beginning Monday, May 22, and running through June 4, the annual “Click It or Ticket” national mobilization will use seat belt checkpoints and saturation patrols, in combination with local and national publicity efforts, to emphasize the life-saving value of seat belts.

Howell is one of several departments in Monmouth County that received a $7,000 grant to step up enforcement in an effort to save lives. The grant can pay for increased road patrols, seat belt checkpoints and other initiatives.

In Monmouth County, Colts Neck, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township and Manalapan also received the $7,000 grant, as did Highlands and Middletown.

In New Jersey, a key focus of this year’s campaign is to promote seat belt use by adults in all seats in a vehicle, both front and rear seats, the department said.

There is a special emphasis on back-seat passengers' buckling up because compliance there still lags, even though state law requires it.

Although the seat belt usage rate in New Jersey is 92.97 percent, adults riding in rear seats are buckling up at only 48 percent, according to the most recent surveys.

A state statute from 2010 outlines the requirements for riders 18 and older in the back seat to use a properly secured seat belt. Other laws specify safety measures required for children infants to age 18, including that a child over 8 years of age or 57 inches in height must be properly secured by a seat belt, state law says.

According to the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, in 2022 there were 694 people in the state killed in traffic crashes. Forty percent 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 percent.

Grant money from the Division of Highway and Traffic Safety went to 134 New Jersey law enforcement agencies to fund the campaign, said Attorney General Matthew Platkin. The money pays for increased road patrols, seat belt checkpoints, and other enforcement initiatives during the campaign.

During the 2022 campaign, 145 New Jersey police agencies participated
in the two-week initiative. As a result of the effort, law enforcement officers issued 8,373 seat
belt citations, 3,315 speeding summonses and made 278 impaired driving arrests.