Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety have launched the state’s annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign, with police departments across the state, including the Lakewood Police Department and the Howell Township Police Department, stepping up enforcement efforts aimed at increasing seat belt use and reducing traffic fatalities ahead of the busy summer travel season.
From May 18 through May 31, law enforcement agencies across New Jersey will conduct increased patrols focused on seat belt enforcement, child passenger safety compliance, speeding, and distracted driving violations. The campaign coincides with the nationwide “Click It or Ticket” initiative and overlaps with the Memorial Day holiday weekend, one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
As part of the effort, the Division of Highway Traffic Safety awarded $774,760 in grant funding to 113 law enforcement agencies statewide. Lakewood and Howell each received $7,000 grants to support seat belt enforcement and public education activities.
Under New Jersey law, drivers and passengers are required to wear seat belts, while drivers are also responsible for ensuring passengers under age 18 are properly restrained. Children younger than 8 and shorter than 57 inches must be secured in the appropriate child safety seat or booster seat based on their age, height, and weight.
According to state officials, front-seat seat belt use in New Jersey climbed to nearly 95 percent following last year’s campaign, about four percentage points higher than the national average. However, officials said back-seat passengers continue to ride unrestrained at concerning rates.
State data shows that 135 people killed in New Jersey crashes in 2024 were not wearing seat belts, accounting for 43 percent of all vehicle occupant fatalities. Among those unrestrained deaths, one in four victims were between the ages of 21 and 30.
Officials said last year’s enforcement campaign resulted in more than 5,300 seat belt summonses statewide, along with thousands of speeding and cell phone violations.
The Division of Highway Traffic Safety said it will continue funding additional summer enforcement campaigns targeting speeding, impaired driving, and violations of New Jersey’s Move Over law.
This would be wonderful if it actually was enforced but as all that live in these towns know it will never come to fruition. Children are not seat belted in their carseats, they are in the front seat with no belts in use and no-one stops these drivers.
seat belts is my personal safety i don’t inconvenience anyone or put anyone in harms way, i can never figure out why they target seat belts, why not crack down on things that effect and put others in harms way, like stopping without using a signal, speeding 60 MPH down Williams st, having black tinted windows making communicating with you by the 4 way stop sign is imposable etc.. etc… why seat belts, its really my business not yours
Because it’s just another money grab by your local beloved government branch.
It’s a danger to those in your car, including your children. No different then any other form of child endangerment.
shmendrik if I’m driving myself, I’m not endangering anyone, someone speeding or not using blinkers endanger others
until you go flying through the windshield on the highway and hatzola/911 has to come clean up after you….
Even if you’re are driving yourself, what happens if you get into a car accident caused by someone else? And you end up in the hospital with no work to help pay your bills? And if worse, what happens if the person not wearing the seat belt gets killed by a drunk driver, who will tell the Yesomim that if only your father/mother wore a seat belt, they would be here with you and share in your Simchas?
To many people don’t use seatbelts