Police warn of dangerous drunk driving trend

By: Erin Calandra SPRING TOWNSHIP, Centre County, Pa. -- In Centre County, Spring Township police say they're seeing an unusually large number of extremely drunk drivers. We're talking more than triple the legal limit. Not for just one or two drivers, but four " all in one month. A shocking trend in Spring Township. In June, police made several DUI arrests, but they said in four of them, the drivers were extremely drunk, reaching a blood alcohol content as high as .30 " more than triple the legal limit of .08. "We've seen some pretty high ones in (our) career, but four in a row is a big change," Spring Township Police Chief Mike Danneker said. Danneker said two of those DUIs were from minor crashes. The other two were called in by other drivers. "It's nice to have somebody who sees something so we can intervene to get those people off the road," Danneker said. The police department is beefing up their patrols, but they're warning everyone to stay alert. "That person coming the other way, you just don't know, so we always tell people to drive defensively and be prepared," Danneker said. A scary thought for Benner Township resident Rick Banks. "You can be driving down (the) highway with your grandkids, and all the sudden a driver you don't even know is drunk and crosses the road," Banks said. Banks feels that these extremely drunk and dangerous drivers should get stiffer punishments. "I think they should take their license from them (and) use electronic devices to monitor them," Banks said. "Seriously."