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Trenton
– New Jersey’s front seat belt
usage rate increased 1.06% in 2010 to a
record 93.73%, up from 92.67% last year,
Division of Highway Traffic Safety Director
Pam Fischer announced today.
An
observational survey conducted by the New
Jersey Institute of Technology immediately
following the State’s late May “Click
It or Ticket” seat belt campaign determined
the new rate, which increased for the 14th
consecutive year. This continued gain in
belt usage is significant. Using guidelines
set by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, a 1.06% increase in front
seat belt use will prevent eight fatalities,
236 serious injuries and 177 minor injuries,
and will save New Jersey nearly $57 million
dollars in crash-related economic costs
annually.
Fischer
noted, however, that only 27.09% of adults
18 years of age and older are currently
buckling up in the back seat, down from
32% last year. In addition, the number of
children and teens between the ages of eight
and 18 buckling up in the back seat declined,
from 53.06% in 2009 to 36.97% this year.
The overall back seat belt usage rate dropped
to 47.77%, down from 51.73%. Since 2000,
272 adult back seat riders have lost their
lives in motor vehicle crashes in New Jersey.
“When
New Jersey’s primary seat belt law
took effect in 2000, the front seat belt
usage rate stood at 74%,” Fischer
said. “That rate increased steadily
every year, as more motorists learned, first-hand,
how buckling up, every ride, saves lives.
While our primary seat belt law, has in
great part, helped us achieve an impressive
front seat belt usage rate, we must now
reinforce this same critical, life-saving
message for those riding in the back seat.”
On
January 18, 2010, legislation was signed
into law requiring all adult occupants riding
in the back seat of a motor vehicle to buckle
up. A secondary offense, the new law allows
police to issue summonses to unbuckled back
seat occupants, 18 years of age and older,
when the vehicle they are riding in is stopped
for another violation. Adult passengers
who fail to buckle up when riding in the
back are subject to a $46 fine. (Under the
state’s current primary seat belt
law, all motorists and passengers in the
front seat, as well as all passengers under
18, who are not properly restrained in a
seat belt or car seat also face a $46 fine.
This ticket is issued to the driver.)
Fischer
added that in the event of a crash, an unbuckled
back seat passenger can become a “bullet,”
hitting the front seat, the dashboard, the
windshield or even another vehicle occupant.
The passenger can also be ejected from the
vehicle resulting in serious injury and
often death.
According to New Jersey State Police Major
Kevin Burke, "The evidence is overwhelming.
People disregarding seat belt laws fare
much worse when crashes occur. They are
injured and killed at many times the rate
of motorists wearing seatbelts. Even if
seatbelt scofflaws don't value their own
lives, unbuckled drivers are more likely
to loose control of their vehicles during
an initial impact and injure or kill others
in a secondary collision."
“Education
and enforcement remain critical to our unified
effort to reach 100 percent seat belt usage
by all motorists,” said Motor Vehicle
Commission Chief Administrator Raymond P.
Martinez. “From our newest drivers
to those who are more experienced behind
the wheel, the statistical data demonstrates
that our consistent message of Click It
or Ticket is resonating with all drivers.”
This
year, 406, or 82%, of the State’s
police agencies participated in the “Click
It or Ticket” mobilization, which
ran from May 24 to June 6. The Division
of Highway Traffic Safety provided federal
grants of $4,000 each to 157 police agencies
throughout the state for saturation patrols
and seat belt checkpoints. The remaining
departments participated in the program
using their own funds.
During
the two-week mobilization, 35,671 seat belt
citations were issued by the 406 police
agencies, down from 41,442 in 2009. Police
officers also wrote 1,028 citations for
improper use of child restraints and 5,832
for speeding, while 592 individuals were
arrested for drunk driving.
The
three counties with the largest gain in
front seat belt use from 2009 to 2010 are:
Burlington, up 3.42% to 95.36%; Camden,
up 2.56% to 94.30%; and Somerset, up 2.55%
to 94.39%. The five counties with the highest
belt usage rates for 2010 are: Burlington
(95.36%); Morris (95.17%); Middlesex (95.15%);
Bergen (94.74%); and Somerset (94.39%).
A
town-by-town breakdown of the citations
issued during the “Click It or Ticket”
program, as well as related statistics,
are available on the Division’s web
site, at
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