Monday, May 11, 2009

Drunk Driving Enforcement Crackdown

Click It or Ticket Seat Belt enforcement

KEARNY – Law enforcement officers from the Town of Kearny will be cracking down on drunk drivers during the upcoming summer season. Beginning in the next few weeks and running through the summer months the Kearny Police Department will conduct sobriety checkpoints and roving patrols, looking for motorists who may be driving while intoxicated.
Impaired drivers kill nearly 18,000 people on our nation’s roads each year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 97 percent of Americans view drinking and driving by others as a threat to their families and themselves.
The Kearny Police Department offers the following advice:
• If you plan to drink, choose a designated driver before going out.
• Take mass transit, a taxicab, or ask a sober friend to drive you home.
• Spend the night where the activity is held.
• Report impaired drivers to law enforcement
• Always buckle up, every ride. It’s your best defense against an impaired driver.

2009 Click It or Ticket Seat Belt Mobilization May 18 through May 31.
The May 2009 Click It or Ticket Mobilization will play a critical role in the effort to keep people safe on our nation’s roads and highways. From May 18 to 31law enforcement agencies in New Jersey and nationwide will conduct Click It or Ticket campaigns that incorporate zero-tolerance enforcement of safety belt laws with paid advertising and the support of government agencies, local coalitions and school officials to increase safety belt use and defend against one of the greatest threats to us all - serious injury or death in traffic crashes.
Click It or Ticket is a high-publicity law enforcement effort that gives people more of a reason to buckle up - the increased threat of a traffic ticket. Most people buckle up for safety. But for some people, it is the threat of the ticket that spurs them to put on a safety belt. In Click It or Ticket programs, law enforcement agencies are asked to mobilize to focus on safety belt violations and publicize the stepped-up effort through news media and advertising. It is the two-pronged approach that makes these campaigns powerful: Not only are tickets issued to unbelted motorists, but the surrounding publicity ensures that people know they are more likely to get a ticket.
Click It or Ticket campaigns and similar efforts have increased safety belt use in cities, states and even in an entire region of the country. In New Jersey, 473 police agencies participated in the May 2008 Click It or Ticket Enforcement Mobilization. As a result of the enforcement and public information efforts, New Jersey's seat belt usage rate has risen to an all-time high of 91.75 percent.