The unofficial start of summer kicks off this Memorial Day weekend with a renewed initiative to enforce the Commonwealth’s impaired driving laws, the Pennsylvania Driving Under the Influence Association, (PA DUI Assn.) announced today.
Both municipal and state police throughout the state will be out in force over the weekend with increased sobriety checkpoints, roving patrols and other under-the-influence related enforcement initiatives to ensure that our highways are safer by removing alcohol and drug impaired drivers.
“As families begin the summer travel season this weekend, we want to keep them safe from impaired drivers,” said DUI Association Executive Director C. Stephen Erni. “Unfortunately, we are entering one of the deadliest times of the year on our highways. Approximately one third of fatal impaired driving related crashes occur in the months of May, June, July, August and September.”
Last year, 419 Pennsylvanians lost their lives as the result of impaired driving related crashes. During the 2011 Memorial Day weekend travel period, 144 impaired driving crashes took the lives of 10 people, statewide. One hundred and eight specially trained state and municipal Drug Recognition Expert officers will be available to work with law enforcement across the Commonwealth to evaluate drivers suspected of being under-the-influence of controlled substances. Since the implementation of the Drug Recognition Expert program in 2004, driving under the influence of controlled substance charges have grown exponentially each year. Last year alone, over 13,907 drugged driving charges were filed against impaired drivers in Pennsylvania. Over 50,000 DUI-related arrests were made in 2011.
“We have zero tolerance for impaired drivers, the lost of life for families that have encountered these irresponsible drivers is completely unnecessary and tragic.” said Erni. Pennsylvania Driving Under the Influence Association was founded in 1979 to encourage and facilitate the growth of impaired driving safety programs in Pennsylvania. The non-profit organization addresses the DUI problem in all of its many stages – from prevention to enforcement, up to and including, adjudication and rehabilitation.
