The decision to conduct a DUI checkpoint near a major highway on-ramp during the annual Musikfest festival in Northampton County, PA has been questioned by police officials. The DUI checkpoint was conducted by local PA township police on the night of August 4, during the first weekend of Musikfest. Musikfest is an annual music festival that has been held each August in Bethlehem, PA since 1984.
It boasts to be the largest non-gated music festival in the country, and it attracts more than one million people annually.
Police set up DUI roadblocks near an on-ramp to I-78, just outside of Musikfest. The checkpoint caused enough traffic problems that the Bethlehem city police had to intervene to get cars moving again. Complaints were received from both drivers and businesses in the area, including the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem.
Township DUI Coordinator Robert Winters acknowledged that the eastern PA checkpoint location had not been used in six years; however, he indicated that the checkpoint was purposefully conducted at a busy location to catch drunk drivers on the local roads.
According to the Chief of Police in Bethlehem, PA, the resulting traffic congestion was so bad that the Chief himself had to call DUI Coordinator Winters to ask him to do something to get the traffic moving.
Police permitted a few waves of vehicles to pass through the checkpoint without examination for DUI, which, according to Winters, is standard procedure once a checkpoint begins to disrupt travelers.
The DUI checkpoint was held from 10pm to 3am, during which time police stopped 2,367 vehicles. Of those, police made eight arrests for DUI and four drug-related or open container arrests. Each vehicle was stopped for 20 seconds, which, according to police, is ample time for trained officers to detect if a driver was under the influence. Anyone who was suspected of a DUI was pulled to the side and subjected to a field sobriety test.
If you attend a concert, festival, fair, or other event in Pennsylvania, it’s important to remember that the police are watching for impaired drivers to cite for DUI. A DUI charge in PA can carry serious penalties and long-lasting consequences. If you have been charged with drunk driving in Pennsylvania, you should contact an experienced PA DUI lawyer as soon as possible following your arrest. The sooner you retain qualified a qualified PA DUI lawyer to represent you, the more effective your lawyer can be.
