Brick Police Get 'Click It Or Ticket' Seat Belt Enforcement Grant

BRICK, NJ — The Brick Township Police Department is receiving a $7,500 grant for extra patrols to enforce seat belt usage during the "Click It or Ticket" program, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office announced.

The seat belt enforcement campaign aimed at promoting safe travels begins Monday and runs through June 6, and is part of statewide and national efforts to remind people to wear their seat belts.

The campaign begins with a one-day, four-hour "Border to Border" enforcement event that is a joint effort of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania law enforcement and will feature highly visible seat belt enforcement for drivers at state border checkpoints.

“Seat belts have been proven to be one of the best ways to prevent death and serious injury in a crash. Yet statistics show that many people still don't buckle up,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. “The Click It or Ticket enforcement campaign is aimed at educating the public on the importance of abiding by seat belt laws. It could literally save your life.”

In 2019, nearly half (47 percent) of the 22,215 people killed in crashes nationwide were not wearing seat belts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In New Jersey that year, 42 percent, 108 of the 260 people who died in passenger vehicle crashes were unrestrained, the administration said. And in passenger vehicle fatalities occurring at night, from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., the percentage of those killed and not wearing seat belts jumps to 55 percent.

Across the campaign, participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a “no-excuses” approach to seat belt enforcement, writing tickets throughout the day and with a particular focus on nighttime enforcement. In New Jersey, the maximum penalty for a seat belt violation is $46.

“Wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of fatal injury by 45 percent and critical injury by 50 percent,” said Eric Heitmann, director of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety. “By working together to enforce New Jersey’s seat belt laws during the Click It or Ticket campaign, participating law enforcement agencies are promoting safe habits that will help reach our goal of zero fatalities on New Jersey roadways. If enforcement wakes people up to the dangers of unrestrained driving, we’ll consider our mission to be a success.”

The Click It or Ticket campaign was not held in New Jersey last year due to concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the most recent campaign in 2019, which ran from April 1 through April 21, 2019, 341 police agencies in New Jersey participated. In addition to issuing 14,548 seat belt citations, those agencies wrote 5,670 speeding tickets, and made 858 impaired driving arrests.

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