Which is why, he said, he decided to conduct sobriety road checks - checkpoints where police randomly select cars to determine the sobriety of the driver - after the state Supreme Court reaffirmed their constitutionality in December 1987. Upper Makefield's first road check on June 4, believed to be the first by a local police department since the Supreme Court ruling, netted four drunken drivers in five hours.
The department is not alone in cracking down on people who drink and drive. Police throughout the county are getting tougher on drunken drivers. The result is one of the highest drunken-driving arrest rates in the state.
The fifth-largest county in the state, Bucks is No. 2 in drunken-driving arrests - 883 - so far this year. In third place is Montgomery County with 776, followed by Delaware County with 549 and Philadelphia with 539. Allegheny, the second-largest county in the state, arrested 1,500 people for drunken driving.
The numbers in Bucks County have risen steadily over the last five years. There were 1,881 arrests in 1985, 2,485 in 1986, 2,843 in 1987, 2,899 in 1988; this year the number is expected to pass 3,000. When it comes to drunken- driving-related deaths, Bucks averages about nine per year, which is comparable with nearby counties.
District Attorney Alan M. Rubenstein called drunken driving in Bucks County ''an epidemic."
"Bucks is somewhat unique," he said. "Other areas have drunk-driving problems, especially in the southeastern region of Pennsylvania. But we seem to be the largest in terms of sheer numbers."
