Delaware State News
DOVER — As thousands take to the roads for the July Fourth holiday on Saturday, Delaware Office of Highway Safety spokeswoman Andrea Summers said her agency is launching its eighth annual Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign this weekend.
Checkpoint Strikeforce is a regional sobriety-checkpoint campaign aimed at arresting DUI offenders, and using high-visibility enforcement to deter those who would otherwise choose to drink and drive. The campaign, a six-month-long effort running through New Year’s Eve, involves setting up weekly DUI checkpoints statewide. Officers participating in the 2008 campaign made 559 DUI arrests.
Ninety-eight sobriety checkpoints are scheduled to take place over the next six months, with six set for this weekend. During peak holiday times including Labor Day, Halloween and the month of December, the Office of Highway Safety will increase the number of checkpoints and add roving DUI patrols to the plan.
Ms. Summers said alcohol-related fatalities are down significantly in Delaware. Nine of this year’s 51 traffic deaths (17 percent) have been alcohol-related. At this time last year, 29 of the state’s 59 fatalities (49 percent) involved alcohol. Alcohol involvement is also suspected to have been a factor in two of last weekend’s four fatal crashes.
"While the reduction in alcohol-related traffic deaths is encouraging, it does not mean that we should in any way cut back on our enforcement or awareness efforts," said Tricia Roberts, director of the Office of Highway Safety. "Too many people still fail to understand that alcohol and driving don’t mix. Impaired driving is no accident — nor is it a victimless crime. We will continue our work to bring it to an end."
Twenty-two police agencies are participating in this year’s Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign. They include the Delaware State Police; the municipal police departments of Clayton, Dover, Georgetown, Harrington, Laurel, Milford, Millsboro, Rehoboth Beach, Seaford and Smyrna; and the New Castle County DUI Task Force, which comprises officers from the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement, Division of Capitol Police, DNREC State Park Police, New Castle County Police and the municipal police forces of Delaware City, Elsmere, Middletown, New Castle, Newark, Newport and Wilmington.
The campaign’s enforcement activities will be supplemented by intense public awareness in the form of new TV and radio spots, billboards and print and Internet ads. Bars, restaurants and OHS’s corporate partners will receive fliers, posters and table tents to display and help spread the message. The campaign’s Spanish-language materials are being revised to make comprehension among the non- or limited-English-speaking Latino community easier.
As part of the Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign, OHS has formed a new partnership with the Delaware Sports League to promote the HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers. Efforts include ad placement on the DSL Web site and e-mail blasts, sponsorship of a HERO shuttle bus and providing bottled water with a HERO message for DSL events after games. The HERO Campaign was founded by the family of the late U.S. Navy Ensign John Elliott, who was killed in a tragic crash involving an impaired driver in 2000.
Those convicted of a first time DUI offense in Delaware can expect to lose their driver’s license for up to three months, attend an eight-week DUI treatment class and pay nearly $4,000 in court, treatment, DMV and lawyers’ fees.
Checkpoint Strikeforce is the second initiative under OHS’s 120 Days of Summer HEAT campaign, a summertime crackdown on traffic violators which began with Click It or Ticket, and will be followed next week by the Stop Aggressive Driving campaign. For more information on Checkpoint Strikeforce, visit http://www.ohs.delaware.gov and follow regular campaign updates on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/DEHighwaySafe.
