Christmas week enforcement focus is on DUI and Aggressive Driving
Dover – As the song goes “Over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house we go…” The Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is wishing all motorists a safe driving holiday as Christmas week approaches. As the OHS 15th annual Safe Family Holiday Campaign continues, officers will be working overtime patrolling the roadways to ensure all motorists are buckled up, practicing patience behind the wheel, and using a designated sober driver if celebrating with friends and family during the holidays.
Overtime aggressive driving enforcement will run from December 19th-28th along with DUI saturation patrols continuing to run through the entire holiday season.
There is one DUI checkpoint scheduled for this weekend as follows:
- Friday December 20th Newport (New Castle County DUI Task Force)- Checkpoint
The Safe Family Holiday DUI Victim tree received 1 more green bulb this week. There is now a total of 9 green bulbs and 1 red bulb on each DUI Victim tree. Each green bulb represents an alcohol related injury and a red bulb represents an alcohol related fatality on Delaware roadways between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Last year, 3 people were killed and 54 were injured in alcohol-related crashes in Delaware during the holiday season.
Since January 1st of this year, 95 people have lost their lives on Delaware roadways in 91 fatal traffic crashes, compared to 106 people killed in 101 fatal traffic crashes this time last year. Aggressive driving behaviors, including speeding, running stop signs, and not granting right of way, have contributed to 33% of the fatal traffic crashes so far this year. To date alcohol consumption has been involved in 35% of the traffic deaths, and 46% of vehicle occupant fatalities were individuals not wearing their seat belts.
For more information on these or any of our other Safe Family Holiday campaign efforts follow us on Twitter @DEHighwaySafe, visit our website for updates at www.ohs.delaware.gov, www.DUIRealTime.com/Safe-Holidays or Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ArriveAliveDE.