By John Burton
MIDDLETOWN – Township police will be participating in a national initiative aimed at cracking down on drunk driving for the remainder of the summer season.
The department will be involved in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign, beginning on Aug. 15 and running until Labor Day, Sept. 1., with local and state law enforcement conducting sobriety check points and increasing roving patrols on the look out for motorists who may be driving while intoxicated, according to detective Lt. Stephen Dollinger, a police spokesman.
The state Division of Highway Traffic Safety provides federal grant money to participating law enforcement agencies for the two-week campaign, originally launched nationally in 1999.
In 2013, alcohol-impaired fatalities accounted for 22 percent of the state’s motor vehicle fatalities. More than 10,000 people are killed annually in the U.S. from alcohol-related driving crashes.
