For every bit of good news, there’s often bad news to accompany it. In this case, the good news came last month in the form of a report by the Butler County Coroner’s Office that the number of fatal drug overdoses was down significantly so far in 2019.

But a report from the Pennsylvania State Police this past weekend brought a counterbalance. Over the Easter holiday weekend, the number of incidents of people driving under the influence across the state was up by 10 percent from the same time period in 2018.

The total number of DUI incidents in Pennsylvania over the holiday weekend was 396 — up from last year’s 359 incidents. Of those, 38 drivers crashed their cars, according to state police statistics.

In the jurisdiction of Butler’s Pennsylvania State Police Troop D, there were 33 drunken driving incidents. Five of the people who were caught driving while allegedly intoxicated were involved in crashes.

This increase in DUI incidents comes on the heels of a state law — known as Act 153 — that went into effect around Christmas. The law increased penalties for persons who repeatedly drive under the influence and established the state’s first felony for DUI. Before its passage, Pennsylvania was one of only four states in which driving under the influence could not be prosecuted as a felony.

Under Act 153, a person charged with a third DUI offense within a decade who has at least twice the state’s legal limit for alcohol — 0.08 percent — or a fourth offense faces larger fines and tougher penalties, such as mandatory jail time or longer sentences for drunk drivers who cause another person’s death.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger recently touted a proposal to send all DUI hearings in the county to a centralized court. He argues that this would streamline the existing DUI hearing process, which he noted allows repeat offenders to drag out the process and gives them too much control in scheduling assessments, often leading to delays in the process.

Act 153 is a good start and Goldinger’s proposal for a centralized court is a decent idea, although it has yet to be determined whether it would affect police costs or coverage.

But there are still too many people making the poor decision to get behind the wheel after having consumed enough alcohol to impair their ability to drive a vehicle safely.

The state needs to continue to strengthen its DUI laws and should look to states like Georgia and Arizona for guidance. In the former, drunk drivers face a minimum of 10 days in jail and the loss of their license for a year, while in the latter a DUI could lead to a $2,500 fine and 30 days in jail.

People who get behind the wheel after drinking too much are making a selfish decision that endangers lives. Pennsylvania should send a message that this behavior is unacceptable.