New ticketing blitz will target speeders
by Melissa Castro
Wednesday June 27, 2007, 8:18 PM
The state that brought you the "Click It or Ticket" campaign is preparing to launch "Obey the Signs or Pay the Fines," a new ticketing blitz aimed at snaring summertime speeders.
Starting July 4, local police in seven North Jersey counties will begin a month-long ticketing campaign targeting drivers who ignore the speed limit, officials at the state Division of Highway Traffic Safety said.
In all, 68 police departments received $4,000 state grants to participate in the program. The grants will pay for approximately 80 hours of overtime at each department. And officers are expecting motorists caught in the blitz to be a little ticked off when they get their tickets.
"People make excuses and we get the 'Don't you have any thing better to do?'" said Lt. Chris Wagner of the Denville Police Department, one of departments that received a grant. "No, we don['t.
State officials said police will not be handing out any verbal warnings during the campaign. Instead, they'll be handing over tickets with fines ranging from $85 to $260, and points will be assessed to offenders' licenses.
The "Obey the Signs or Pay the Fines" campaign comes on the heels of "Click It or Ticket," a similar campaign launched this spring and aimed at drivers who fail to buckle their seat belts.
Some, but not all, local departments in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties will be participating in the anti-speeding campaign.
State troopers, who patrol the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, are not participating, said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a State Police spokesman. But State Police were already planning to add overtime patrols over the July 4th holiday to crack down on aggressive driving and drunk drivers, Jones said.
by Melissa Castro
Wednesday June 27, 2007, 8:18 PM
The state that brought you the "Click It or Ticket" campaign is preparing to launch "Obey the Signs or Pay the Fines," a new ticketing blitz aimed at snaring summertime speeders.
Starting July 4, local police in seven North Jersey counties will begin a month-long ticketing campaign targeting drivers who ignore the speed limit, officials at the state Division of Highway Traffic Safety said.
In all, 68 police departments received $4,000 state grants to participate in the program. The grants will pay for approximately 80 hours of overtime at each department. And officers are expecting motorists caught in the blitz to be a little ticked off when they get their tickets.
"People make excuses and we get the 'Don't you have any thing better to do?'" said Lt. Chris Wagner of the Denville Police Department, one of departments that received a grant. "No, we don['t.
State officials said police will not be handing out any verbal warnings during the campaign. Instead, they'll be handing over tickets with fines ranging from $85 to $260, and points will be assessed to offenders' licenses.
The "Obey the Signs or Pay the Fines" campaign comes on the heels of "Click It or Ticket," a similar campaign launched this spring and aimed at drivers who fail to buckle their seat belts.
Some, but not all, local departments in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties will be participating in the anti-speeding campaign.
State troopers, who patrol the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, are not participating, said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a State Police spokesman. But State Police were already planning to add overtime patrols over the July 4th holiday to crack down on aggressive driving and drunk drivers, Jones said.
