(temporarily assigned) delivered the opinion of the court.
Pursuant to
N.J.S.A.
2C:40-18b, it is a third-degree crime when a person “knowingly violates a law intended to protect the public health and safety or knowingly fails to perform a duty imposed by
a law intended to protect the public health and safety and recklessly causes
I.
On Friday, August 10, 2007, just after midnight, eighteen-year-old defendant Kirby Lenihan was driving her 1999 Hyundai Accent on Route 519 in Hampton Township. The speed limit on the road was forty-five miles per hour. K.G., who was sixteen years old, was in the passenger seat. It was raining heavily and visibility was poor.
At approximately 12:39 a.m., defendant veered to the right, drove through the shoulder, collided head-on with the guardrail, and hit a yellow roadway sign about five feet off the side of the road. Defendant and K.G. suffered serious head injuries as a result of the crash. K.G. also sustained serious bodily injuries. Neither defendant nor K.G. were wearing seat belts. Both airbags deployed. Defendant admitted that she was “driving too fast” given the road and weather conditions and her inexperience as a driver.
Two aerosol cans, “Clean Safe Aerosol Dust Remover” and “Arm and Hammer Carpet Deodorizer,” which contain difluoroethane, were discovered in defendant’s car during the police investigation of the accident. The carpet deodorizer was missing its cap and nozzle. Based on his “training and experience,” an investigating officer concluded that “cans such as these and in such condition are used to get high. The process is known as ‘huffing.’”
Defendant and K.G. were transported to Morristown Memorial Hospital. As a result of the evidence of suspected inhalation, blood was drawn from defendant at the hospital about forty-five minutes after the accident, and difluoroethane was found in her blood. The following morning, K.G. died at 5:26 a.m., as a result of her injuries. Defendant asserted that due to the injuries suffered in the accident, she had no specific recollection of the accident or the events leading up to it.
II.
A Sussex County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging defendant in count one with a violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18a, a second-degree offense, based on the Seat Belt Law and recklessly causing the death of K.G. The indictment also charged defendant with second-degree vehicular homicide, N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5a (count two); and first-degree vehicular homicide within 1000 feet of school property, N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-5b(3) (count three). The latter charge was subsequently dismissed on defendant’s motion.
Defendant moved to dismiss the indictment in its entirety on the grounds of “bias and preconceived attitude by a grand juror,” and “prejudicially improper instructions to the grand jury by the State.” Defendant also moved to dismiss count one on the grounds that the Seat Belt Law was not intended to “protect the public health and safety” within the meaning of N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18. That motion was denied by the trial court.
As a result of plea negotiations, count one was amended to charge a third-degree crime. The State agreed to recommend dismissal or merger of the vehicular homicide charge and to dismiss various summonses for: failure to wear a seat belt and to ensure that K.G. buckled her seat belt,
N.J.S.A.
39:3 — 76.2f(b); driving under the
Defendant moved for a stay of the custodial term pending appeal. The Appellate Division granted the application. In a published opinion, the Appellate Division affirmed.
State v. Leni
han,
427
N.J.Super.
499,
We granted defendant’s petition for certification. 213
N.J.
386,
III.
A.
Defendant challenges on two grounds the denial of her motion to dismiss count one. First, defendant argues that pursuant to principles and canons of statutory interpretation, N.J.S.A 2C:40-18b does not apply to her case. Defendant contends that her “minor traffic” violation of the Seat Belt Law — failing to ensure that her passenger, K.G., had buckled her seat belt while riding in the vehicle — cannot serve as a predicate offense to support a conviction pursuant to N.J.S.A 2C:40-18b. She argues that someone who violates the Seat Belt Law “does not threaten ‘the public health and safety’ of people at large, but rather the health and safety of’ a discrete individual — the unbuckled passenger riding in the driver’s ear. Defendant argues to the contrary that, according to the legislative history of N.J.S.A. 20:40-18, the type of offenses that should serve as predicate offenses pursuant to the statute are “violations of fire and building codes, pollution controls, or other laws whose violation risks harm to the community at large.”
Second, defendant argues that N.J.SA 2C:40-18b as applied here is void because it is unconstitutionally vague. Defendant contends that the phrase “law intended to protect the public health and safety” as stated in N.J.S.A. 20:40-18, is facially vague, ambiguous, and overbroad. Moreover, defendant argues that the statute is unconstitutionally vague as applied.
Defendant contends that, as a violator of a mere traffic offense, she was not given prior notice that a violation of the Seat Belt Law would subject her to prosecution of a third-degree crime pursuant to
NJ.S.A.
2C:40-18. Defendant’s argument is that the Legislature made a violation of the Seat Belt Law “a ticketable offense” under Title 39. Therefore, “the general public is entitled to fair notice of such serious consequences.” (citing
State v. Lisa,
391
N.J.Super.
556, 579-80,
Defendant further argues that the ambiguity of
N.J.S.A
2C:40-18 “places in the prosecutor’s arsenal an unconstitutional ability to overreach into the legislative domain and raise virtually any” regulatory or local ordinance violation “to the serious level of an indictable crime.” As an example, defendant directs the Court’s attention to a municipality’s “leash law” requiring dog owners to restrain their pets. Defendant notes that such a law clearly protects public health and safety. Defendant suggests, therefore, that “an owner of a dog which runs across the street and bites the
Defendant contends that the Appellate Division “ignored the strictures against overly broad, undefinable criminal law” as discussed in
State v. Riley,
412
N.J.Super.
162,
B.
The State argues that the Seat Belt Law “is directed at every driver and passenger in a motor vehicle in the State of New Jersey,” and thus, the “law is directed to the public as a whole.” The State notes that “[h]ad the Legislature intended to limit the statute’s reach to those offenders risking widespread injury or damage, they could have easily made that statement.” For exam- pie, as the State explains, N.J.S.A 2C:17-2 specifically prohibits “widespread injury or damage.”
The State relies on
Waterson v. General Motors Corp.,
111
N.J.
238, 268,
The State also argues that “the legislative history appears to support the conclusion that the Legislature did not intend [a] narrow interpretation” of N.J.S.A. 20:40-18. Citing N.J.S.A. 20:2-1, which was amended in the same bill that created N.J.S.A. 20:40-18, the State notes that the amendment contained similar language imposing liability on those who violate “any other law intended to protect the public safety.”
Furthermore, the State argues that N.J.S.A 20:40-18 does not merely require a seat belt violation, “but also the infliction of serious bodily injury or death” as a result of a defendant’s reckless conduct. The State submits that under the circumstances of this case — defendant’s inexperience as a driver, the bad road and weather conditions, and the evidence of “huffing” — her conduct was indeed reckless and “prosecution under N.J.S.A. 20:40-18 was not trivial.”
Finally, the State argues that N.J.S.A. 20:40-18, specifically the phrase “a law intended to protect the public health and safety,” is not unconstitutionally vague. The State explains that a violation of the Seat Belt Law “falls squarely within the definition of’ N.J.S.A. 20:40-18.
C.
Amicus curiae Attorney General of New Jersey (Attorney General) argues that the Seat Belt Law is a “law intended to protect the public health and safety” as understood by N.J.S.A. 20:40-18. The Attorney General contends that the statute’s language is not ambiguous. If the Legislature intended to restrict N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18 to only those public health and safety laws “affecting the ‘general public at large,’ ” as defendant maintains, then the Legislature would have done so. Thus, the Attorney General submits, the Court should presume that the phrase at issue “carries its ordinary and well-understood meaning.”
After surveying the development of the seat belt laws on the federal and state level, the Attorney General argues that “[i]t is beyond question that the purpose of the [Seat Belt Law] is to protect the public safety of all automobile passengers in New Jersey.” Moreover, the Attorney General
The Attorney General also notes that at least ten of our sister states have explicitly interpreted seat belt laws as laws “enacted to serve the public safety and welfare.”
The Attorney General argues that the Legislature enacted the Seat Belt Law to protect the general public, not merely a discrete individual. The Attorney General notes that the Iowa and Illinois Supreme Courts have specifically resolved this issue consistent with the State’s position, (citing
State v. Hartog,
440
N.W.2d
852, 858 (Iowa 1989);
People v. Kohrig,
113
Ill.2d
384, 101
Ill.Dec.
650,
The Attorney General contends that N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18 is not unconstitutionally vague as applied to defendant. The Attorney General argues that the phrase “knowingly violates a law intended to protect the public health and safety,” in N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18, “fairly apprised defendant that she faced criminal liability for failing to ensure her minor passenger was wearing a seat belt in her car.” The Attorney General further opines that defendant’s unsupported assertions “that the floodgates will open to unbridled prosecutorial overreach” are meritless.
IV.
A.
We first address defendant’s claim that N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18b does not encompass violations of the Seat Belt Law. Defendant’s argument rests on the proper interpretation of N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18b. We therefore begin with certain familiar principles of statutory interpretation.
The primary goal of statutory interpretation “is to determine as best we can the intent of the Legislature, and to give effect to that intent.”
State v. Hudson,
209
N.J.
513, 529,
This court must construe and apply a statute as enacted.
In re Closing of Jamesburg High Sch, 83 N.J.
540, 548,
B.
Defendant argues that N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18b does not apply to this case because the Legislature intended to limit the types of predicate offenses contemplated by the statute to offenses such as “violations of fire and building codes, pollution controls, or other laws whose violations risk harm to the community at large.” Defendant argues that a violation of the Seat Belt Law, therefore, does not qualify as a predicate offense for N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18b. We disagree.
Our review of the meaning of a statute or the common law is de novo.
Nicholas v. Mynster,
213
N.J.
463, 478,
Even if we were to accept the distinction urged by defendant, however, the Seat Belt Law does protect the community at large and not merely discrete individuals. Following an initial impact, several scenarios can occur if a passenger is unrestrained. The unrestrained passenger could be: (a) thrown against the driver affecting the defendant’s ability to control the vehicle and avoid other vehicles or persons in the vicinity; (b) thrown against other passengers in the vehicle; (c) ejected from the vehicle in the initial collision injuring others nearby; or (d) ejected onto the roadway,
causing other accidents as other drivers react with evasive maneuvers.
See Kohrig, supra,
101
Ill.Dec.
650,
The Seat Belt Law’s legislative history reinforces that notion and speaks to the law’s broad scope. In 1984, New Jersey enacted the “Passenger Automobile Seat Belt Usage Law.” N.J.S.A. 39:3-76.2e to -76.2k. The purpose of the law is clearly reflected in the bill’s sponsor statement: “to require that the driver and passenger in the front seat of an operating passenger automobile wear the safety seat belt system provided as original equipment in virtually all passenger automobiles operating on New Jersey streets and highways.” Assemb., 2304 (Sponsor’s Statement), 201st Leg., 1st Sess. (N.J. June 28, 1984). New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean noted at the time of signing the bill into law that traffic statistics “have already proven rather conclusively that safety belts are instrumental in preventing injury and death in motor vehicle accidents.” Governor’s Statement on Signing Assembly Bill No. 2304 (Nov. 8,1984).
In a committee statement that accompanied the 1984 law, the Legislature noted the following:
1. There has been a “dramatic decrease in fatalities and serious injuries in countries and provinces having enacted Seat Belt Law____”
2. “It is estimated that easily one-half of all fatalities and serious injuries can be eliminated by simply requiring people to use equipment already installed in thenvehicles____”
3. Mandating such use would “greatly reduce lost work time, insurance cost and health benefit cost to both individuals, private companies, and the State of New Jersey.”
4. Lastly, “[wjhile insurance rates in the State of New Jersey are among the highest in the country, the increased use of safety seat belt systems will cause subsequent reductions in accidents, deaths, injuries, and lost work time. This could lead to reduced cost to business and industry, and local and state governments thereby eventually leading to cost containment and other incentives in automotive insurance rates and premiums.”
[Waterson, supra, 111 N.J. at 261,544 A.2d 357 (citing Assembly Law, Public Safety and Defense Committee Statement to Assembly, No. 2304, p. 3 (1984)).]
In
Waterson, supra,
this Court explained that “ ‘seat belts may be the most significant source of automobile crash protection for automobile occupants.’ ” 111
N.J.
at 269-70,
For those reasons, we find that the language included in N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18 — making it an offense “to knowingly violate[ ] a law intended to protect the public health and safety” — encompasses the Seat Belt Law.
V.
A.
Defendant also challenges the constitutionality of
N.J.S.A.
2C:40-18b. She contends the law is vague as applied to her. The issue was first raised in defendant’s reply brief in the Appellate Division. “To raise [an] issue initially in a reply brief is improper.”
Twp. of Warren v. Suffness,
225
N.J.Super.
399, 412,
A presumption of validity attaches to every statute.
State v. Muhammad,
145
N.J.
23, 41,
This Court has held that “any act of the Legislature will not be ruled void unless its repugnancy to the Constitution is clear beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Muhammad, supra,
145
N.J.
at 41,
A statute “is void if it is so vague that persons ‘of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application.’ ”
Hamilton Amusement Ctr. v. Verniero,
156
N.J.
254, 279-80,
“A statute may be challenged as being either facially vague or vague ‘as-applied.’ ”
State v. Maldonado,
137
N.J.
536, 563,
“[I]f a statute is vague as applied to [the] conduct [at issue], it will not be enforced even though the law might be validly imposed against others not similarly situated.”
Cameron, supra,
100
N.J.
at 593,
B.
We reject the argument that N.J.S.A. 2C:40-18b is unconstitutionally vague.
Defendant concedes that N.J.S.A. 20:40-18 is not facially unconstitutional. She notes that violations of fire codes, building codes, and pollution controls may serve as predicate offenses under the statute. Rather, defendant argues that she was not given prior notice that a violation of the Seat Belt Law would subject her to prosecution under N.J.S.A. 20:40-18.
Here, defendant, in the factual statement supporting her plea allocution, admitted that her passenger, K.G., was not wearing a seat belt, in violation of the Seat Belt Law. Thus, defendant knowingly violated that statute. As the Attorney General noted, one would be “hard-pressed to locate a more publicized law.” As previously explained, the Seat Belt Law is clearly a “law intended to protect the public health and safety” within the meaning of
N.J.S.A.
20:40-18. A person “of common intelligence” should understand that a knowing violation of the Seat Belt Law would fall within the statute’s scope.
See Hamilton Amusement Ctr., supra,
156
N.J.
at 279-80,
The trial court found that defendant’s actions were reckless under the circumstances, and defendant acknowledged that her actions caused the victim to sustain serious bodily injuries. Although penal laws “are subject[] to sharper scrutiny” and a more “critical assessment under the vagueness doctrine than civil enactments,”
Cameron, supra,
100
N.J.
at 592,
As noted above, a statute that attempts to protect the public health, safety, or welfare, is entitled to a significant presumption of validity.
In re C.V.S. Pharmacy Wayne, supra,
116
N.J.
at 497,
Moreover, because “[a] party may test a law for vagueness as applied only with respect to his or her particular conduct,” defendant’s multiple hypotheticals about the law’s potential vagueness are irrelevant.
See Cameron, supra,
100
N.J.
at 593,
VI.
The judgment of the Appellate Division is affirmed.
Opposed — None.