Gloucester County Gets $100K in Drunk Driving Prevention Funds

A new pilot arrangement with the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety will hopefully help authorities in Gloucester County cut down on drunk driving incidents with additional sobriety checkpoints and highway patrols.

For 2014, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office (GCPO) will get control of $100,000 in state grants that can fund those targeted enforcement operations through local police departments.

The novelty of the arrangement will allow smaller police departments to use portions of grants, as allocated by the GCPO, to bring checkpoints to their communities by funding overtime work. 

Drivers can expect additional traffic stops around the Christmas, New Year's Eve, and Labor Day holidays in 2014 for “Over the Limit, Under Arrest” patrols. The GCPO will spend $30,000 for patrols between December 7 and January 2 alone.

According to the GCPO more than 30 percent of all motor vehicle deaths in Gloucester County have involved alcohol as a contributing factor.

In 10 checkpoints last year, authorities in the country made 37 drunk-driving arrests, 59 arrests for other offenses, and issued 686 tickets for motor vehicle violations, the GCPO reported.

“Police departments vary. They vary on manpower, they vary on their abilities to do (extra patrols),” said Gary Poedubicky, Acting Director for the Highway Traffic Safety Division in a statement.

“Folks are going to be out during the holiday season and enjoying themselves and having their festivities," Poedunicky said. "But we overall want everyone to be safe on our roadways and that’s why we conduct these operations.