Hillsborough Police Award $4,200 To Crackdown On Drunk Driving

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough Township Police are among 108 New Jersey police agencies participating in the annual Labor Day crackdown on impaired driving.

The annual "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" Campaign, running through Sept. 2, is aimed at reducing the potential for fatal and serious accidents on New Jersey roads by heightening awareness about impaired driving.

Hillsborough Township received $4,200 in grant money to conduct sobriety checkpoints and have more officers on patrol, according to Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division of Highway Traffic Safety (HTS).

During last summer's "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" campaign, officers arrested 350 people for driving while intoxicated, wrote 1,220 speeding tickets, and issued 634 seat belt summonses, according to the AG's office and the HTS.

In the 2022 summer campaign, law enforcement agencies made a total of 169 impaired driving arrests and issued 348 seatbelt tickets, 240 distracted driving tickets, and 804 speeding tickets. Additionally, they wrote 609 other summonses for hazardous moving violations.

"Impaired driving is a direct threat to the safety of everyone on the road," said Michael J. Rizol Jr., Director of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety. "It’s a matter of responsibility: Each driver has a duty to make safe choices behind the wheel, for their own well-being and that of others."

New Jersey State Police data shows that the number of intoxicated drivers involved in fatal crashes climbed each year from 2020 to 2022, officials added. In 2022, there were 646 fatal collisions along Garden State roadways, and a total of 689 people died in these crashes.

"If you choose to drive while impaired, you're recklessly gambling with your life and the lives of the other people sharing the road," Rizol continued.

Here is the full list of grantees in Somerset County, and how much each agency received for the impaired driving crackdown:

• Bedminster: $3,500
• Bernards: $2,520
• Bernardsville: $1,050
• Bound Brook: $4,200
• Branchburg: $3,150
• Bridgewater: $3,500
• Far Hills: $3,500
• Franklin Township: $2,800
• Green Brook: $3,500
• Hillsborough: $4,200
• Manville: $3,500
• Montgomery: $3,500
• North Plainfield: $3,150
• Peapack Gladstone: $3,500
• Raritan Borough: $3,500
• Somerset County Sheriff's Office: $3,150
• South Bound Brook: $1,680
• Warren: $3,500
• Watchung: $3,500

— Additional reporting by Michelle Rotuno-Johnson, Patch Staff

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