Corzine backs seat belt requirement

A year after his near-fatal crash, Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Wednesday endorsed a proposal to require that all passengers wear a seat belt in a motor vehicle on New Jersey's roads.

The recommendation to now require that back seat passengers over the age of 18 wear a seat belt was part of a report by the Teen Driver Study Commission, charged with finding ways to curb teen crashes.

 "Unfortunately, I can speak to the fact that seat belt usage is a very real protector of lives," said Corzine, who was not wearing a seat belt when he was involved in a serious wreck on the Garden State Parkway in April.

If enacted, New Jersey would become the eighth state to make driving with any unbelted passenger a primary offense, according to state officials.

The commission also recommended sweeping changes directed at reducing teen crashes, including requiring that all new drivers -- those practicing with supervision in the permit phase and those without supervision during the probationary phase -- place an identifying decal, such as a placard or sticker, on the vehicle.

That would make it easier for police officers to enforce additional recommendations for probationary drivers.

Assemblyman Michael Doherty, a member of the commission, said he thinks the recommendations will make teen driving safer if passed. He also thinks they will halt an age-old pastime of joy-riding, when a "bunch of teens pile into a car."

"That day is going to end in New Jersey, which I think is a good development," said Doherty, R-Warren/Hunterdon.

The 15-member panel, which included law enforcement, representatives from driving schools, a parent and a teen, was formed after a series of deadly auto wrecks in New Jersey involving teenagers.