Gloucester Twp. Police Dept. Receives 'Click It or Ticket' Grant

Gloucester Township Police Department will once again participate in the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's (NHTSA) "Click It or Ticket" campaign.

The two-week 2012 "Click It or Ticket" zero tolerance enforcement push will take place May 21 through June 3.

Gloucester Township Police Department is among nine Camden County police agencies to receive $4,000 grants from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety to support seat-belt enforcement checkpoints and saturation patrols over the two-week period. The others are Bellmawr, Berlin Township, Gloucester City, Haddon Heights, Merchantville, Pennsauken, Pine Hill and Winslow Township.

During the 2011 campaign, township police officers working "Click It or Ticket" details between May 23 and June 5 issued a total of 313 tickets, including 244 to motorists and passengers who were not wearing seat belts, the Police Department reported.

Nearly 150 law-enforcment agencies across New Jersey will participate in the 2012 "Click It or Ticket" campaign that includes Memorial Day weekend.

“Buckling up is the single most effective way for a motor-vehicle occupant to avoid death or serious injury in a crash,” Division of Highway Traffic Safety Acting Director Gary Poedubicky said in a statement. “During what we expect to be a highly trafficked period, motorists and their passengers need to make their safety the top priority and wear their seat belt no matter how long the journey.”

"Click It or Ticket" has been credited with raising awareness about seat-belt usage in New Jersey since it began in the state in 2003. According to a 2011 observational survey conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU), 94.51 percent of front-seat motorists and passengers wore their seat belts, compared with just 81.2 percent in 2003.

Legislation passed in 2010 made it a secondary offense for adults over the age of 18 to ride unbuckled in the back seat of a motor vehicle. The law allows police to issue a summons, which carries a fine of $46, to unrestrained adults in the back seat when the car they are traveling in is pulled over for another violation.

The state’s primary seat-belt law requires all motorists and passengers in the front seat, including passengers under the age of 18, to wear a seat belt or be securely buckled in a car seat, or face a $46 fine. This ticket is issued to the driver.

The FDU study revealed that only 61 percent of adult, back-seat passengers wear seat belts, the Division of Highway Traffic Safety reports.

NHTSA reports that seat-belt use saved more than 12,500 lives in 2010.