CURWENSVILLE – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and Curwensville High School has partnered to raise impaired driving awareness during the national “Operation Safe Holiday” enforcement initiative which runs from Dec. 1 – 31.
Their focus is on reducing impaired driving crashes and fatalities during the holiday season and encouraging safe driving behaviors.
To enhance efforts, Curwensville Driver’s Education Teacher, Dawna Wheeler, and two high school seniors, Chloe Tubbs and Tristen Bressler, also recorded Public Service Announcements (PSAs) at WOK!W.
The PSAs are used to remind motorists to stay safe this holiday season by incorporating and adopting safe driving behaviors.
According to PennDOT data, during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays, 883 of the statewide crashes involved a driver impaired by drugs or alcohol, with 33 fatalities in those crashes.
In that same time period, there were 276 crashes with unbuckled occupants, with 10 fatalities in those crashes.
PennDOT urges travelers to never drive impaired and always buckle up. Drivers should also avoid distractions, rotate drivers if possible and take frequent breaks.
Motorists should allow extra time for travel and expect to encounter traffic delays. As weather and road conditions can worsen quickly at this time of year, drivers should always check the forecast for their entire route and make sure their vehicle is equipped with a winter emergency kit and tire with good traction.
For more information on winter preparedness visit, www.penndot.gov/winter.
To check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles visit www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 770 traffic cameras.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional Twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA Web site.
For regional updates on Twitter visit: www.twitter.com/511PAStateCOLL and follow PennDOT on Facebook.
