Dogs 'n cats better buckle up in N.J.

By: Barry Leibowitz
Topics: Daily Blotter

If your pet is riding sans seat belt, you could get fined

/ Getty Images/CBS Philly

(CBS) Philadelphia - Click it or ticket, fido. Seat belts are not just for people anymore - at least not in New Jersey.

Police and animal control officers are authorized to cite drivers with animals that aren't buckled up, CBS Philly reports.

Yes, that even includes the back of a pickup truck.

Violators can be fined $250 to $1,000 per offense.

Ray Martinez, head of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, just wants to avoid distracted driving.

"People actually driving with a dog or a cat on their laps. It's not cute. It's actually dangerous for the driver. It's dangerous for other drivers and it's dangerous for that pet."

Dogs can be placed in harnesses that click right into the seat belt buckle. Cats don't take well to harnesses for the most part, so they need to go in a carrier. And the carrier needs to be buckled down.

No kitty-ing.

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by jby1 June 12, 2012 2:35 PM EDT: This is not a new law. The MVC is trying to enforce a law that was originally written in 1880 and actually reads: A person who shall carry, or cause to be carried, a living animal or creature in or upon a vehicle or otherwise, in a cruel or inhumane manner, shall be guilty of a disorderly persons offense and punished as provided in subsection a. of R.S.4:22-17.

Your report, which failed to provide any information beyond what was in the MVC's press release is causing a lot of confusion.; Reply to this comment


by dorasm June 7, 2012 9:14 PM EDT: And I thought the supreme sanctimonious idiotic bureacrats on the planet lived in Austin, Texas.; Reply to this comment


by dorasm June 7, 2012 9:13 PM EDT: And I thought the supreme sanctimonious idiotic bureacrats on the planet lived in Austin, Texas.; Reply to this comment