Police from several Lehigh County municipalities participated Aug. 10 in a sobriety checkpoint along Broadway in Salisbury Township, near its border with Fountain Hill Borough, under the auspices of the Lehigh Valley Regional DUI Task Force.

Broadway is a busy corridor for drivers going to and from the 10-day Musikfest activities held every August in Bethlehem. The safety detail began 11 p.m. Aug. 10 and lasted through 4 a.m. Aug. 11.

The Lehigh Valley Regional DUI Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional cooperative law enforcement effort to implement sustained DUI enforcement activities. The task force is funded by a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation grant which is administered by the South Whitehall Police Department. Capt. Jason Negron is the program coordinator and Sgt. George Hummel is his assistant.

The task force participates in a statewide initiative to reduce the number of deaths and injuries on highways caused by intoxicated and chemically impaired drivers. The task force conducts sobriety checkpoints and roving patrols on area roadways known to experience a high level of alcohol-related accidents and/or arrests. The task force also conducts mobile awareness patrols to gather traffic flow data and gain public exposure. Police departments in the task force participate in numerous community events to help educate the public about the danger of driving under the influence of alcohol and controlled substances and the impact it has on everyone involved.

The task force is comprised of 14 Lehigh County police departments and works closely with the Allentown Police Department and the Pennsylvania State Police in joint task force efforts.

Police participating in the task force have made contact with thousands of motorists and have apprehended hundreds of impaired drivers over nearly two decades of operation.

Hummel, who coordinated the checkpoint’s activities, said Aug. 10, “Our goal is to reduce impaired driving by increasing public awareness of the problems associated with impaired driving and to increase public perception of the fear of apprehension of driving while impaired.”

A number of motorists were detained for field sobriety tests during the operation and arrests were made of drivers found impaired.