Buckle Up: Morristown PD Gets Funds For Seatbelt Enforcement Campaign

MORRISTOWN, NJ —Morristown is among the towns that will get funding to help run a “Click It or Ticket” seatbelt enforcement campaign in 2024, state officials announced Monday.

The annual traffic campaign aims to “raise awareness among drivers and passengers about the lifesaving importance of wearing seat belts,” according to a news release from New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the Division of Highway Traffic Safety (HTS).

The campaign, which will run through June 2, will provide grant funding to law enforcement agencies across the state so they can step up enforcement of New Jersey’s seat belt requirements.

This year, 119 New Jersey law enforcement agencies have received $766,010 from the HTS to help pay for increased road patrols, seat belt checkpoints, and other enforcement initiatives during the "Click It or Ticket" campaign.

Morristown Police are slated to get $7,000 as part of this year's wave of funding.

Other Morris County departments receiving funding are:

• Boonton Township, $7,000 grant
• Morris Plains, $7,000 grant
• Parsippany-Troy Hills, $8,750 grant
• Rockaway Township, $7,000 grant
• Wharton, $7,000 grant

See the full state list of grantees here.

Officials said that in 2022, there were 140 traffic fatalities where the occupants were not wearing seat belts, and 39 percent of all motor vehicle occupant fatalities were not restrained (compared to 44 percent nationally.

“Over the past five years, nearly 16 percent of all unrestrained occupants killed in motor vehicle crashes in New Jersey were between the ages of 20 and 24, compared to 13.5 percent nationally,” public safety officials said.

In New Jersey, a ticket for a seat belt violation can cost $46 for a first offense, officials noted.

Last year, law enforcement agencies participating in the “Click It or Ticket” campaign issued 6,989 seatbelt citations statewide, wrote 2,320 speeding summonses and made 232 impaired driving arrests.

“Seat belts save lives – we want that message to be loud and clear,” Platkin said. “And the campaign we are announcing today will provide law enforcement agencies with resources to reinforce that basic but critical point.”