By: Najla Alexander
City officials in Linden announced law enforcement officers from the Linden Police Department will join police from around the country in cracking down on unbuckled motorists and passengers as part of the national "Click it or Ticket" campaign.
According to officials, the campaign will begin May 22 and run through June 4.
The annual "Click It or Ticket" national mobilization utilizes high visibility seat belt checkpoints and saturation patrols, combined with local and national publicity efforts, to reiterate the life-saving value of seat belts, officials said.
According to the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, in 2022, there were 694 people in the state killed in traffic crashes.
NJ Division officials say 40% of the motor vehicle occupants who died in these crashes were not wearing a seatbelt.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that seat belt use reduces the risk of severe injury or death in a crash by 45%.
In New Jersey, a key focus of this year's "Click It or Ticket" campaign is to promote seat belt usage by adults in all seating positions in the vehicle, both front AND rear seats.
According to officials, the front seat belt usage rate in New Jersey currently stands at 92.97%.
Officials say, however, adults riding in rear seats are buckling up at a significantly lower rate, only 48%, according to the most recent surveys.
During the 2022 "Click it or Ticket" campaign, 145 New Jersey police agencies participated in the two-week initiative.
As a result of the effort, law enforcement officers issued 8,373 seat belt citations, 3,315 speeding summonses, and made 278 impaired driving arrests.