Seatbelt Usage Hits Record Level In NJ In The Front Seat

Pam Fischer, the director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety (photo by Martin DiCaro)

Seat belt usage by drivers and passengers in front seats reached a record high this year of 93.7 percent, state safety officials announced on Thursday. However, compliance is dropping in the back seat. Following the state's "Click it or Ticket" campaign in May, an observational survey by the New Jersey Institute of Technology found that only 47.7 percent of back seat passengers are wearing seat belts, down from 51 percent in 2009. Among children 8 to 18 the figure is even lower, 36 percent.

"We've got to just keep pushing the message out there that that is unacceptable," said Pam Fischer, the director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety. "You should, regardless of seating position, always wear your seat belt."

At a news conference at the Cheesequake rest area on the Garden State Parkway, Fischer said making failure to wear a seatbelt by an adult in the back seat a primary offense could spur higher compliance.

"Right now the only way a police officer can stop and issue a ticket to that back seat passenger is if the driver is committing some other violation, a secondary offense. That's difficult," she said. Fischer said when New Jersey's primary seat belt law took effect in 2000, front seat belt usage was 74 percent. It has since climbed to 93.7 percent. You can be pulled over solely for not wearing your seatbelt behind the wheel.

As he gassed up at Cheesequake, LaMont Long of West Orange said he learned that taking a few seconds to buckle up is a few seconds well spent.

"A few years back I got into a car accident. You know, I thought I was too cool to wear a seat belt. I wound up having 37 surgeries and operations sue to not wearing a seat belt. I was in coma for about six, seven months," he said.

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