BRIDGEVILLE, Pa., June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation was recently awarded a $1 million dollar Federal Grant to
target reducing alcohol related crashes. This opportunity will employ
intensified enforcement operations throughout Pennsylvania. The project is
serving as a national prototype to evaluate the effects of aggressive law
enforcement and public information events on the incidence of DUI.
The 15-month research campaign will begin July 1, 2000 and will continue
through September 2001 in targeted areas. Fourteen Pennsylvania counties,
including Allegheny & Westmoreland will conduct enhanced sobriety checkpoints
and ongoing public awareness activities for 75 weekends. Using hand-held Palm
Pilot organizers to gather DUI data at the checkpoints, law enforcement will
send the data to be analyzed for national review. The most effective
approaches in all five states will be compiled for implementation throughout
the United States. Other participating states are Texas, Louisiana,
Tennessee, and Georgia.
Most of the counties that will share the grant money are part of mass
media markets that reach the most number of people along with Pennsylvania's
long-standing heritage as a leader in law enforcement.
This is a team effort between state and local police, county
administrators, and PennDOT field representatives. This group, "Team DUI,"
will be dedicating the next 75 weekends to developing enforcement and
educational solutions that help reduce the most frequently committed violent
crime in the United States: Impaired Driving. Allegheny County had 1,264
alcohol-related crashes in 1998 with 28 of those crashes resulting in death.
In addition to the aggressive law enforcement efforts, public awareness
activities will be implemented. The public service campaign "Please Step Away
From Your Vehicle" will be utilized in the form of posters, brochures,
billboards, and in newspaper ads. This will supplement the national "You
Drink & Drive, You Lose" public education program. Community and school
promotions will help round out the initiative in participating counties during
the operational phase. Intoxicated driving is a crime and costs residents
millions of dollars, lost time, lost property, and -- most Importantly -- lost
lives.
SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
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CONTACT:
Catherine Tress of PennDOT, District 11,
412-429-6035
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