Never a smart idea; less so in Lower Pottsgrove.
SANATOGA PA – If you’re driving without wearing a seat belt, or driving under the influence (DUI) of an intoxicating substance, you’re always driving into trouble. In Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, you’ll arrive there more frequently.
The township Police Department is continuing what Chief Michael Shade has described as its “active participation” in the state’s “Drive Safe PA” and national “Click-It-Or-Ticket” programs, which target DUI and seat belt offenders, respectively.
Last month (May 2009), department officers spent a dozen or more hours of overtime in the twin efforts, all of which is reimbursed by the state. Operating May DUI checkpoints alone cost the township $496 in overtime labor, Shade noted during his monthly report June 1 (2009) to the township Board of Commissioners.
The payoff: between the two programs, officers issued a total of 121 citations over 31 days, averaging almost four daily.
Of particular concern, Shade noted, was the fact that his patrols “made several DUI arrests during daytime enforcements of these programs.” Statistics show that May 2009 DUI arrests – there were nine – were significantly higher than those in the same month of 2008 (3) or 2007 (5).
Coincidentally, daytime drunk driving was the focus of an article published Sunday (June 14, 2009) by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Pioneer-Press newspaper in St. Paul MN. Its report addressed the heightened risks daylight DUIs pose with increased commuter traffic in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region.
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Commissioners’ June 1 meeting):
- New Equipment Highlights Fire Report
- State OKs Police Consolidation Study
- Keeping Their Eyes On The Pump
- Bateman Trail Cut Into Open Space
- Township Reconsiders Charitable Donations
- PennDOT Set For Meeting On Bridge Work
Photo by Clipart.com
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