Over Labor Day weekend, eight Bucks County police departments heightened their DUI enforcement. The extra effort is meant to prevent drunk driving, but still resulted in 12 arrests.
Extra patrols in Bensalem, Doylestown, Middletown, New Britain, Newtown, Upper Southampton, Warrington and Warwick were funded through a continuing federal safety grant administered through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
The effort totaled in 132 vehicles stopped, 10 DUI arrests and two other arrests — one for possession of drugs and one wanted on a warrant, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
In 2014, Labor Day was Pennsylvania’s deadliest holiday weekend. That year, it resulted in 858 crashes and 24 fatalities, according to figures from PennDOT. Alcohol use was involved in just 13 percent of the crashes in 2014, but alcohol-related crashes accounted for 41 percent of fatal accidents.
Efforts like this take place throughout the year, typically on Labor Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Eve, New Year’s Eve, St. Patrick’s Day and Labor Day, Memorial Day and July 4th weekends.
Last weekend, Bucks County’s DUI Task Force, comprising officers from Bensalem, Middletown, New Britain, Solebury, Upper Southampton and Warrington Townships, as well as from Penndel Borough, held a checkpoint on Street Road in Bensalem.
