Be Careful Out There - Halloween Weekend Surpasses New Year's in Drunk Driving Fatalities

Checkpoint Strikeforce Exceeds 200 DUI Arrests In Statewide Sobriety Checkpoint Blitz

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 30, 2002; -- Drunk driving makes Halloween deadlier for Virginians than New Year's, according to data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In the last five years, the weekend of or before Halloween has seen more drunk driving fatalities in Virginia than on the New Year's holiday.

But more than 200 drunk drivers have been arrested and taken off the roads this Halloween as part of Checkpoint Strikeforce, a statewide sobriety checkpoint blitz and public education campaign launched in July to make Virginia's roads safer all-year-round. Checkpoint Strikeforce is seeking to curb the rising trend of drunk driving by blanketing the Commonwealth with sobriety checkpoints and inundating Virginia's media with powerful radio ads and news coverage. Led by state and local law enforcement agencies and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the campaign is reminding citizens of the many dangers and consequences of drunk driving -- including getting caught and arrested.

"Last year, drunk driving took the lives of seven individuals on Halloween versus three on New Year's -- making Halloween the deadliest holiday for Virginians," said Kurt Erickson, President and CEO of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP), which is assisting the DMV in carrying out the Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign. "Our goal this Halloween is to remove drunk drivers from our highways and make them safer for drivers and trick-or- treaters alike."

Checkpoint Strikeforce is a multi-faceted campaign that includes setting up sobriety checkpoints, conducting research to gauge Virginians' attitudes towards impaired driving and launching a half-million dollar creative radio advertising campaign. The Virginia program is part of a larger Mid-Atlantic states effort (including Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia) also funded by NHTSA.

For more information, please log onto WRAP's website at http://www.wrap.org .