Police in five-county Philadelphia region begin stepping up DUI patrols
The five-county Philadelphia region is joining a national crackdown on DUI, a component of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) initiative called “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest,” officials said this week.
West Goshen Township Police Officer Justin DiMedio, the program liaison for Chester County, said extra roving patrols and sobriety checkpoints would be in force today through Sept. 7 to reduce drunken-driving fatalities, which typically spike during holiday periods.
More than 600 municipal police departments and the state police will be involved, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Nationally, more than 10,000 police agencies representing every state as well as the District of Columbia will participate.
In 2007, nearly 13,000 people, including 245 children younger than 15, died in crashes in which the drivers or motorcycle riders were legally impaired – with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher – according to the NHTSA.
“Because we’re committed to ending the carnage, we’re intensifying enforcement during the crackdown,” Chester County District Attorney Joseph W. Carroll said in a news release. “We’ll be especially vigilant during high-risk nighttime hours, when impaired drivers are most likely to be on our roads.”