Fort Lee Police Participating In Nationwide Seat Belt Campaign

FORT LEE, NJ — As part of a nationwide program called "Click It or Ticket", Fort Lee Police is cracking down on driving without seat belts on.

From May 24 to June 6 there patrol officers will be located at checkpoints with high visibility to control whether people have their seat belts on.

"Using a seat belt is the simplest way for motor vehicle occupants to protect themselves on the road," Director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety Eric Heitmann said, according to a police statement.

Last year the program was canceled due to COVID-19, but in 2019 during two weeks there were a total of 14,548 seat belt citations across the state, police said.

According to the document, front seat belt usage in New Jersey is of 90.23 percent, although for adults riding in the back the number stands only at 48 percent.

"For whatever reason there seems to be a disconnect with people feeling they don't need to buckle up when riding as passengers in the rear seats, and this is a concern," Heitmann said. "We're encouraging passenger habits that save lives."

According to the official, neraly 15,000 lives were saved across the US in 2017 just from using the seat belt.