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[quote="Cranbury Press"]Friday, May 23, 2008 10:28 AM EDT
By Davy James, Staff Writer

Police want to send a clear message to motorists — it’s time to buckle up or you will pay up.

From Monday to June 1, law enforcement officers throughout the state and nation will be participating in the Click It or Ticket campaign, a zero-tolerance push to raise seat belt use.

“We’re going to have added patrols during the campaign with a zero-tolerance policy, looking for motorists not wearing seat belts,” said Cranbury Police Sgt. Frank Dillane, head of the Traffic Safety Bureau. “We want to remind people that this is a primary law for the safety of adults and children. We want to make sure everyone is properly restrained.”

Police said the goal of the program is to increase the statewide usage rate from 91.4 percent to 93 percent.

“In a pre-campaign survey we found that we already have a high compliance rate of about 92 percent,” Sgt. Dillane said. “We get to around 94 percent once the campaign ends and we would be pleased if we can maintain that compliance rate.”
    Local police received a $4,000 grant from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety to participate in the campaign.

“We’re going to have details designated just for seat belt enforcement,” said Monroe Police Detective Robert Bennett. “If they see a vehicle pass they’re going to be looking for that. Seat belts save lives.”

Police said that in 2007 there were 716 motor vehicle fatalities in New Jersey, of which a large percentage weren’t wearing seat belts. Between 1975 and 2000, seat belts prevented 135,000 fatalities and 3.8 million nationwide, saving $585 billion in medical and other costs, according to police. They said that seat belt use is especially important for teens and young adults, as motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people ages 15-34 in the United States.

“We’ve been very proactive getting people to wear seat belts and this is the fifth year in a row that we’ve received the grant to participate in the program,” Sgt. Dillane said. “We’ll have about four additional patrols out that specifically look for seat belt use.”

Police said the motorists generally are positive when reprimanded for not wearing seat belts.

“People usually say ‘oh yeah I forgot to put one on’ and they say they’re well aware that it’s a law that you have to wear one,” Sgt. Dillane said. “Generally, we get a positive response from people.”

Sgt. Dillane said that his personal experience dealing with motor vehicle accidents illustrates the importance of wearing seat belts.

“We handle a lot of crashes, predominantly on Route 130 and I’ve seen a lot of injuries where seat belts weren’t worn,” he said. “There are statistics that show injuries occur less often, less severe or not at all when seat belts are worn. I’m 100 percent an advocate that seat belts save lives because I’ve seen it firsthand.”

http://www.packetonline.com/articles/2008/05/23/cranbury_press/news/doc4836ccfe62433786976350.txt[/quote]

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