Police in new Jersey may soon be able to pull over vehicles if they notice passengers in the rear seat are not wearing a seatbelt, under a new law introduced in the New Jersey Legislature.
Under current law, failure to wear a seatbelt in the rear seat constitutes a secondary offense, which means a law enforcement officer cannot stop and issue a ticket to a person solely for a violation of the rear seat belt law, but only when the vehicle has been stopped for some other suspected violation.
However, this bill would now make it make it a primary offense to violate the law requiring a rear seat motor vehicle passenger to wear a seat belt, allowing police to pull over a vehicle for that infraction alone.
In addition, one year after the effective date of this bill, all State and local law enforcement agencies will be required to submit a report to the Attorney General containing information from the preceding year on any traffic stop where a passenger received a citation for a seatbelt violation.
The information is to include the alleged traffic violation that led to the motor vehicle stop, any citation or warning issued as a result of the motor vehicle stop, whether a search was instituted as a result of the motor vehicle stop, and whether the motor vehicle stop led to an arrest of a driver or any passenger of the vehicle.
The Attorney General is to compare the data contained in this report with any traffic stop data available from two years prior to the effective date of this bill, in order to determine the effect of the implementation of this bill on law enforcement practices.
The bill awaits its first hearing.
Do adults need to wear seatbelts in the back seat?
Such tzadikim, always looking out for others!
Trying to keep the public safe l.
What would we do without them?
Much safer and have more money.
@Wondering.
Adults shouldn’t “need” to wear a seatbelt back or front. If they have half a brain and want to keep it intact, they should WANT to wear a seatbelt regardless where they sit.
Who gets the ticket? Is it the driver or the passenger? Sounds a bit ridiculous to hold the driver responsible.
Even if the driver insisted that the passengers wear their seatbelts, one of the passengers could’ve unbuckled the seatbelt in the middle of the journey, unbeknownst to the driver.
$$$$$$$. That is what this tyranny is about.
They don’t need the law changed. They’ll simply pull you over and when you ask why you were stopped, They’ll
simply state that you touched the Fog Line (the solid white shoulder line) and therefore you were failing to maintain your lane. Or some other excuse.
I for one, I’m glad that the law is taking affect. As a parent who lost a child, I see so many children in the backseat, without their seatbelts on. Parents won’t even tell their children to put it in even after my husband or I will tell the driver to. I guess they don’t believe it can happen to them.
If this law will save even one of Hashem’s children, so that not one parent will have to go through the pain we’ve been through, it’s worth it.
Do you think people would listen
Once it starts hurting them in their pockets…
I always have my seat belt on and it’s a $46.00 ticket