WRAP, Washington Regional Alcohol Program, Checkpoint Strikeforce

VIRGINIA SEES DECREASE IN DRUNK DRIVING FATALITIES
FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW
Checkpoint Strikeforce Checks Quarter-Million Drivers Since 2002
New Polling Shows Nearly 9 in 10 Virginians Support Sobriety Checkpoints

Richmond, VA – As countless Virginians prepare to hit the highways for the long Labor Day weekend – historically the third deadliest DUI holiday of the year – Virginia kicked-off Checkpoint Strikeforce, a 5-month, statewide campaign to raise public awareness about drunk driving. Virginia law enforcement agencies will hold a minimum of one sobriety checkpoint once a week across the state throughout the rest of 2005. The campaign was dramatically launched this morning from atop the helipad of the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, the hospital entry-point for too many victims of drunk driving.

Data released at the event indicates that Virginia is making major strides in combating drinking and driving with Checkpoint Strikeforce and other initiatives. In 2004, Virginia saw 343 persons die in alcohol related crashes as compared to 361 in 2003 (a 5 percent decrease) and 375 in 2002.

“While every death is a tragedy, the decline in drunk driving fatalities is very encouraging,” said the Honorable John Marshall, Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety. “While Virginia’s fight to eliminate drunk driving fatalities is far from over, this decrease underscores the effectiveness of the Checkpoint Strikeforce program.”

During the campaign, Virginia law enforcement agencies will hold a minimum of one sobriety checkpoint a week across the state. Studies performed for the Arlington, Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that sobriety checkpoints can reduce alcohol-related crashes by as much as 20 percent. Deploying sobriety checkpoints and patrols when and where drunk driving is most likely to occur both deters motorists from driving under the influence and arrests those who do so.

Since Checkpoint Strikeforce’s inception in 2002, nearly a quarter of a million (240,753) drivers in Virginia have been stopped at sobriety checkpoints.

In addition to sobriety checkpoints, Checkpoint Strikeforce is also employing resonant ads in a robust ($600,000) advertising effort to remind citizens of the many dangers and consequences of impaired driving. Throughout the next five months, over 15,000 radio spots will run on 62 radio stations in Virginia. The campaign is supported locally by a grant from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

Virginians are seeing the difference too and supporting checkpoints. A July 2005 public opinion survey of Virginia drivers conducted for Checkpoint Strikeforce, by the Richmond-based polling firm, MWR Strategies, found that nearly nine out of ten (87 percent) drivers support the anti-DUI initiative. Moreover half of the Virginia drivers perceive drunk drivers as a dangerous threat with 71 percent saying drunk drivers are among the most serious dangers they face on the road.

Listen to the ads and get more information at www.wrap.org.

Virginia Drunk Driving Facts
• In Virginia during 2004, 343 persons were killed in alcohol-related crashes, a 5.0 percent decrease from 2003 when Virginia saw 361 drunk driving fatalities.

• Over the last two years (since 2002 and Checkpoint Strikeforce’s inception), Virginia has seen a steady decline (375 in 2002; 361 in 2003; and 343 in 2004) in drunk driving deaths.

• 7,911 persons were injured in alcohol-related crashes in 2004, a 1.2 percent increase from 2003 (7,819 injured), but 6.5 percent decrease from 2002 (8,465 injured)

• 27,224 persons were tested with blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 percent or greater a 5.0 percent decrease from 2003.

• 28,471 persons were convicted of DUI, 5.3 percent increase from 2003.

• Of those convicted for DUI, 82.4 percent were male and 17.0 percent were female.

• Nationally, alcohol related traffic fatalities declined from 17,105 in 2003 to 16,694 in 2004, representing a 2.4 percent decline.

Checkpoint Strikeforce
• Checkpoint Strikeforce is a research based, zero tolerance initiative within the Mid-Atlantic states designed to catch and arrest drunk drivers via sobriety checkpoints and to educate the public about the dangers and consequences of drunk driving.

• Males between the ages of 21 and 35 are the primary target audience. This demographic group is typically harder to reach with public awareness campaigns and statistically at the highest risk for drunk driving.

• The campaign is supported locally by a grant from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

Results

Checkpoint Strikeforce 2004
(http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/whatis/regions/Region03/03checkpoint.html)

2004 Data	DC	MD	VA	DC–MD-VA Total
# of Checkpoints	28	66	253	347
DWI arrests	224	376	529	1,129
Vehicle Contacts	31,604	57,913	107,945*	197,462
Safety Belt Citations	0	587	524	1,111
CSS Citations	9	34	192	235
Felony Arrests	12	38	141	191
Stolen Vehicles Recovered	0	9	6	15
Fugitives Apprehended	0	26	33	59
Suspended Licenses	0	412	771	1,183
Drug Arrests	0	473	229	702

*Since Checkpoint Strikeforce’s inception in 2002, nearly a quarter of a million (240,753) drivers in Virginia have been stopped at sobriety checkpoints.

Law Enforcement Component

• Law enforcement agencies will conduct a minimum of one sobriety checkpoint every week in Virginia. The checkpoint blitz will continue through the end of 2005.

• Sobriety checkpoints are a highly targeted way to fight drunk driving because they are strategically timed when and located where drunk driving is more likely to occur. Consequently, they are among the most effective tools to stop drunk driving.

• Aggressively deployed sobriety checkpoints can result in a 20 percent reduction in alcohol-related fatal crashes.

Public Awareness Component
• Complementing the aggressive deployment of sobriety checkpoints is a proactive, highly visible, resonant advertising and public awareness effort.

• A $600,000 Virginia ad campaign on targeted stations will air creative advertisements, which were written and produced to resonate with the target audience. The ads utilize the findings of the campaign’s opinion poll to create messages that hit home with the target audience.

• The ads will run in Virginia over 4 ½ months. The radio spots will be played over 15,000 times and will run on 62 radio stations.

• The ads are on a CD available at the news conference or click on www.wrap.org to listen to ads.

Public Opinion

• A July 2005 MWR public opinion survey of Virginia drivers conducted for Checkpoint Strikeforce found:
   - Sobriety Checkpoints are strongly supported. Nearly nine out of ten (87%) of Virginia’s drivers believe sobriety checkpoints are a good idea.
   - Nearly three-fourths of Virginia’s drivers perceive drunk drivers as a serious danger. 71% said that drunk drivers are among the most serious dangers they face on the road.
   - 74% of Virginia’s drivers are aware of sobriety checkpoints in their area.

• A 2001 Gallup survey conducted for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found:
   - Nationally, about a quarter (22%) of the entire driving age public has driven a vehicle within two hours of consuming alcoholic beverages in the past year.
   - U.S. males are more than twice as likely to have driven within two hours of drinking as U.S. females (32% vs. 14%).
   - Across the nation, adults aged 21 to 29 are the most likely to be “drinking drivers” (27% males and 20% females).

Click on www.wrap.org to listen to the ads and for more information.