New Year’s Weekend Sees Fewer DUI Arrests, More Crashes
The Pennsylvania State Police arrested 284 people on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI) over the three-day stretch from December 30, 2017 to January 1, 2018. This marks a sizeable decline from the previous New Year’s weekend, when 328 arrests were made in the same period of time.
However, state police also investigated a total of 1,169 accidents over the holiday weekend. This was almost double the number of crashes investigated during the same period last year, when officers responded to 595 incidents. Of the accidents over the most recent holiday, 66 involved alcohol, 251 people were injured and two people died.
Other enforcement numbers from the weekend included the following:
- 2,617 speeding citations
- 251 seatbelt violation citations
- 30 child safety seat violations
The time around New Year’s tends to be associated with higher rates of drunk driving. While the fewer DUI arrests this year were encouraging, the sharp increase in accidents was alarming. State police did not have any initial explanations as to why the crash figures were as high as they were.
Full information about crash and law enforcement data from troopers is available at the state’s website: PA.gov. The statistics presented (both on that website and in this article) only cover incidents investigated by the state police, and therefore do not include statistics on incidents that other local law enforcement agencies handled throughout the state.
For further information and guidance on DUI penalties and laws in Pennsylvania, contact experienced Reading criminal defense lawyer David R. Eshelman.
