Virginia Combats Drunk Driving with Sobriety Checkpoints on Halloween

Trend Reveals Halloween is More Deadly than New Year's Eve; Checkpoint Strikeforce Nears 300 DUI Arrests

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 30 -- As Virginians prepare to celebrate Halloween, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and State Police (VSP) will be setting up checkpoints across the state as part of the Checkpoint Strikeforce sobriety checkpoint and public awareness campaign. Sobriety checkpoints are planned in at least 10 counties of the state on Friday evening. The agencies are using the checkpoints to remind citizens of the many dangers and consequences of impaired driving; including getting caught and arrested at one of the numerous sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols blanketing Virginia during the Halloween weekend and the remainder of 2003.

According to data compiled by the mid-Atlantic region of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in the last three years (2000 - 2002), Halloween is nearly twice as fatal as New Years Eve for area motorists in terms of DUI (driving under the influence) fatalities. In 2002, 61 DUI fatalities were reported for the Mid-Atlantic States -- including Virginia -- versus 34 fatalities on New Year's Eve.

"These are scary numbers," said Kurt Gregory Erickson, president of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP), which serves as the project manager of the Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign for Virginia. "Rest assured that members of Virginia's law enforcement community will be out in full force this Halloween weekend to catch impaired drivers."

Supported by a NHTSA grant through the Virginia DMV to WRAP, Checkpoint Strikeforce is a highly focused, zero tolerance law enforcement effort to catch and arrest drunk drivers via sobriety checkpoints. Studies show that sobriety checkpoints can reduce alcohol-related crashes by as much as 20 percent. Since the launch of this year's campaign in July of 2003, the VSP has conducted approximately 79 checkpoints in Virginia and made 275 DWI (driving while intoxicated) arrests. This does not include arrests made by local law enforcement checkpoints.

Checkpoint Strikeforce launched a series of creative radio ads in August designed specifically to target 21- to 35-year-olds in Virginia -- a hard-to- reach audience that is statistically most at risk for drunk driving. Of all fatal crashes, drivers in this age group have the highest incidence of intoxication -- approaching double the rate of teenagers and drivers 45 and older. (Source: NHTSA)

Last year's inaugural campaign produced measurable results. In an independent poll conducted at the conclusion of the campaign, support for sobriety checkpoints increased as more than seven out of 10 Virginians (71 percent) reported that they strongly support sobriety checkpoints, and 82 percent said they are a useful tool in keeping drunk drivers off the road. Additionally, 81 percent of Virginians believe that sobriety checkpoints are a "good investment of tax dollars."

For more information or to hear the Checkpoint Strikeforce radio advertisements that are currently running, please log onto www.wrap.org.