Less crashes, more DUI arrests over the July 4th weekend on Lehigh Valley roads, state police say
A year ago, the Lehigh Valley was just getting used to being in the green phase of reopening, following the COVID-19 statewide shutdown.
By Sarah Cassi | For lehighvalleylive.com
The green phase was the third and least restrictive level of Gov. Tom Wolf’s three-tiered reopening plan early in the pandemic, and Lehigh and Northampton counties were among the 12 counties that entered the green phase on June 26, 2020.
State police didn’t collect crash data from the holiday weekend last year, because of the COVID-19 global pandemic and mitigation efforts in place at the time, Trooper Nathan Branosky said. But traffic data shows passenger traffic across the country was still in the initial recovery phase during the summer of 2020.
A year later, the roads look a lot different. And while there were fewer crashes over the holiday weekend this year compared to 2019, there were more injuries and more DUI arrests by Troop M, which covers the Lehigh Valley and Bucks County.
State police recorded 58 crashes with 19 people injured from early Friday morning through Monday night, compared to 67 crashes with 18 people injured around the July 4th holiday in 2019. This year’s crash total includes a pickup truck that sideswiped an ambulance in Allen Township; troopers are still looking for the driver.
Thankfully, none of the local crashes troopers responded to this year were fatal.
Statewide troopers responded to a total of 680 crashes, with nine people dead and 195 people injured this year, compared to 975 crashes, with 287 people injured and nine people killed in 2019.
Alcohol was a factor in four of the fatal crashes this year, state police said.
Locally, there were 38 DUI arrests this year, compared to 32 DUI arrests two years ago. That includes two arrests made Friday during a DUI checkpoint on South Delaware Drive in Williams Township.
Alcohol-related crashes were halved from six to three, and speeding tickets dropped about 40%, from 413 in 2019 to 250 this year.
Troop M warned drivers there will be increased patrols throughout the summer and particularly during the Labor Day weekend.
