Written by Gregory Monte.
The Pennsylvania State Police step-up enforcement on the roads during the following holiday seasons:
- New Years
- Spring Break
- Memorial Day
- July Fourth
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
You can see the breakdown of tickets issued by going to the “Pennsylvania Pressroom” page on the State Police Website.
When I sifted through the data from Memorial Day 2016 through Labor Day 2019, I discovered that most of the reported crashes did not involve alcohol.
Why does this matter?
Well, it matters to me because of the blow-back I received on Facebook when I posted DUI Arrests: Victimless Pre-crime? back in early November. I discussed the controversial idea that a drunk driver might not actually commit a crime if he gets home safely (because this would mean that there was no victim). Here is what I suggested in that post:
If you think there is no possible way that DUI can be either victimless or a type of pre-crime, consider the following words from a post on LewRockwell.com:
“Just as every husband needs a wife, every child needs a parent, and every teacher needs a pupil, so every crime needs a victim. Not a potential victim or possible victim or a supposed victim, but an actual victim.”
In any case, I was genuinely surprised that, at least during holiday seasons, alcohol is not anywhere near the main cause of crashes. Here are the results for all enforcement holidays from 2016 – 2019:
- Total Crashes – 12,184
- Alcohol Related Crashes – 1,057
- Percentage of crashes involving alcohol – 9%
Alcohol wasn’t even the major cause of fatal crashes:
- Percentage of Fatal Crashes Involving Alcohol – 28%.
If you are interested in the raw numbers which break-down crash totals by each holiday, I would be happy to send them to you by email. Or you can just go to the PA State Police website and see them for yourself.
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