Gov. Corzine Wants People to Click-It

After his near fatal car accident which saw New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine extremely seriously injured, he's now speaking out and calling on people to make sure that they buckle up when driving. The annual click-it or ticket campaign to enforce seat belt laws is going on in advance of the Memorial Day weekend:

The state's most prominent symbol for seat belt safety, Governor Corzine, will not directly participate, although he did tape a public service television and radio announcement for a separate, national awareness campaign earlier this week to encourage seat belt use.

Seat belt use is at an all-time high of 90 percent in New Jersey, according to Pam Fischer, director of the state's Division of Highway Traffic Safety, which will award grants of $4,000 each to 206 local and county police agencies to help cover overtime costs for the campaign.

Public service announcements about the program will be broadcast on area radio stations over the two-week period, officials said.

"While seat belt use in New Jersey remains one of the highest in the nation, we must continue to strive for 100 percent compliance," Fischer said.

The governor taped the announcement at Drumthwacket, the official governor's mansion in Princeton, where he is completing his recuperation following injuries received in a near-fatal crash on April 12. Corzine was not wearing a seat belt.

The public service announcement, funded by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, should begin airing on television and radio stations soon, said Anthony Coley, the governor's spokesman.

"People on the federal and state level have been eager to work with us on promoting seat belt usage and we thought this was probably the best way to go about the governor's goal or promoting seat belt usage," Coley said. "We had an opportunity here to reach a lot of people, both in the state and nationally."

This is something I had said he should do since he's in a position to speak from experience as to what happens when you don't wear your seat belt.