Police to beef up DUI enforcement over holiday weekend

WEST GOSHEN >> Police departments throughout Chester County, in conjunction with the Chester County Impaired Driving Program, will increase impaired driving enforcement operations beginning today and continuing through the long holiday weekend. Police will be extra vigilant in detecting and arresting drunk drivers around Chester County.

Motorists are reminded law enforcement officers across Chester County and Pennsylvania will be participating in Operation Safe Holiday which extends from Thanksgiving eve through New Year’s Day. Police will be actively seeking out impaired as well as aggressive drivers to make our highways safe for everybody. All motor vehicle occupants are reminded to always wear a seat belt regardless of the length of the trip; a seat belt is your best defense in a motor vehicle crash.

Across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, impaired driving incidents continue with often tragic consequences. More specifically, there were 395 impaired driving crashes resulting in 10 fatalities during the Thanksgiving Holiday period last year. The Thanksgiving Holiday period is the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving eve through the Thanksgiving weekend and the weekend following. For Pennsylvania law enforcement officers, November was the busiest month for impaired driving arrests in 2017. Police in Pennsylvania made 4,582 DUI arrests during November of 2017, exceeding the second busiest month, March, by over 400 arrests.