DUI Patrols Hitting Street Road Corridor Wednesday

BENSALEM, PA — For the third year in a row, officers from six different Bucks County police departments will be hitting the Street Road corridor Wednesday to patrol for drunk drivers on what's become one of the year's biggest drinking nights.

From 10 p.m. Wednesday to 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, more than a dozen officers will be part of roving DUI patrols along Street Road and its feeder streets from Bensalem to Warrington.

The operation is paid for by a grant from PennDOT and will include officers from Upper Southampton, Bensalem, Warrington, Middletown, Penndel Borough and Newtown Borough.

As everyone knows, Thanksgiving is a huge travel holiday. This year, AAA anticipates 48.5 million travelers nationwide will be traveling 50 miles or more for the holiday — an increase of nearly 5 percent from 2017 and the highest number since 2005.

Meanwhile, the Bucks County District Attorney's office notes, "Thanksgiving Eve" has become something of a drinking holiday in its own right. Those two factors together can lead to disaster, the DA's office said in a news release.

On Thanksgiving week in 2017, there were 2,903 crashes and 21 deaths reported statewide, according to PennDOT. The DUI patrol on Street Road is intended to curb the number of crashes on one of Bucks County's busiest and most accident-prone roadways. It was the location of 10 percent of all crashes in the county in 2017, the office said.

Related News: 10 Thanksgiving Travel Traffic Hotspots Around Philly Region

"Wednesday night is historically one of the biggest party nights of the year. Have a good time, but don’t drink or do drugs and drive," said District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub in the release. "Let’s all celebrate Thanksgiving safely."

Similar efforts in previous years have typically netted about a dozen arrests for DUI and drug-related crimes, the DA's office said.

Richard Vona, Director of Law Enforcement Training in Bucks County and coordinator for the DUI patrols, said that while big arrest numbers might look good, they’re not the project's main objective.

"The goal of these details is prevention," he said. "So if you’re going to drink, stay off the streets or have a plan to get home safe."

Photo via Shutterstock