By Senior Correspondent Desirée Taylor
NJ Today
They’re clocking and stopping motorists across the state as part of a crackdown on unsafe driving.
“Not just speeding. Improper passing, running red lights, not coming to complete stops at stop signs, not yielding for pedestrians. Everybody’s in a hurry and they’re trying to get someplace and they’re not paying attention to how they’re operating their cars,” said Corporal Craig McIntyre of the Wayne Police Department.
Unsafe or impaired driving can have deadly consequences especially during the Memorial Day holiday weekend when traffic volume increases.
“Last year during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, there were four motor vehicle fatalities in New Jersey. And it’s interesting to note that those four fatalities consisted of two pedestrians and two motorcycle operators so we need to keep in mind what we call the other roadway users, in this case the pedestrians, the motorcycle riders that make up a large proportion of our fatalities but also often go unnoticed in the big picture compared to the other roadway users,” said Bob Gaydosh of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety.
Traffic violations can also be costly — up to several hundred dollars for excessive speeding plus points on your license. But this isn’t about boosting revenue. It’s about saving lives says Lt. Les Goldstein, who leads the Passaic County Aggressive Driving Task Force.
“The main purpose of the task force is to focus awareness on aggressive driving via education and strict enforcement, thereby making the roadways in our county and surrounding counties safer,” said Goldstein.
One way to make roads safer is for motorists to wear seat belts. Seat belt usage is at 85 percent in New Jersey. The national Click It or Ticket campaign, which kicked off this week, is looking to increase that number.
“In 2011, 21,000 motor vehicle occupants were killed in traffic crashes in the United States. Half of them were not wearing seat belts. So you can see just from that number, the amount of lives that could be saved if we did have everybody buckling up,” Gaydosh said.
“Everybody just stay safe. Wear your seat belts. And try not to be a distracted driver, which doesn’t just mean the cell phone. Things like eating in the car, drinking coffee in the car, not paying attention. And leave a few minutes early and get there safe,” McIntyre said.
Since its inception in 1999, the task force has issued more than 32,000 summonses and made 328 criminal arrests. And those numbers are certain to go up this holiday weekend because authorities are out in full force.