If you will be celebrating the end of summer during the upcoming Labor Day weekend, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation urges you to include a designated driver in your weekend party plans. PennDOT officials have reportedly coordinated a statewide DUI crackdown as part of a national campaign to prevent and stop drunk driving over Labor Day weekend.

According to PennDOT, there were 169 alcohol-related car accidents and five deaths during the 2010 Labor Day weekend. PennDOT Secretary Barry J. Schoch says that decreasing the number of car accident injuries and fatalities is the motivation behind the weekend crackdown. "People may have end-of-summer plans that involve alcohol," he said, "but safety should be at the forefront of everyone's mind."

Throughout Labor Day weekend, more than 600 local police departments and the Pennsylvania State Police will be conducting DUI checkpoints and extra roving patrols, looking for drivers who appear to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The agency will use part of the $4.2 million in funding it received for the year from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to coordinate participation in the DUI crackdown from law enforcement agencies in State College and throughout Pennsylvania. PennDOT is urging police agencies to work together across city, county, and state borders to decrease the number of drunk drivers on the road.

This focus on cooperation is part of the NHTSA's new DUI enforcement program, "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over," which is focusing on border-to-border enforcement across the entire United States.

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, "PennDOT to Aid State, Local DUI Enforcement through Labor Day," August 19, 2011