The Pennsylvania State Police announced in a press release Thursday morning that officers from their Bethlehem barracks will conduct a sobriety checkpoint somewhere in Lehigh County or Northampton County this weekend.
The Lehigh Valley checkpoint will be set up sometime between Thursday, Jan. 28 and Sunday, Jan. 31.
“A sobriety checkpoint is a traffic safety checkpoint where Pennsylvania State Troopers systematically stop vehicles at selected locations to briefly observe drivers for articulable facts and/or behaviors normally associated with alcohol or drug-impaired drivers,” the release said. “The goal of a sobriety checkpoint is to reduce the number of alcohol and drug-related fatal and serious crashes, and to reduce the number of intoxicated drivers on Pennsylvania’s highways.”
Law enforcement authorities are required by law to announce their intention to conduct a sobriety/DUI checkpoint before one is set up, although the precise time and exact location of the checkpoint are facts not normally disclosed in advance.
In Pennsylvania, in 2013, 381 people died in alcohol-related crashes and 7,900 people were injured, according to the Pennsylvania DUI Association’s website.
“Alcohol-related crashes were 4.9 times more likely to result in death than those not related to alcohol,” the website states.
