Each year, countless people live a nightmare on Halloween. However, the terror isn't from crazed slashers or zombies, but rather from the life-threatening effects of drunken driving.
With D.C. being home to a variety of nightlife establishments and especially with a large college student community, District officials have stepped up efforts in the past few years to prevent tragedies resulting from people driving under the influence.
Checkpoint Strikeforce, a campaign that tightens law enforcement measures against drunken driving, is increasing its presence in the week leading up to Halloween. The campaign is sponsored by state and local law enforcement in the D.C. metropolitan area and the Washington Regional Alcohol Program, a public-private coalition against under-the-influence driving and underage drinking.
AU students have also expressed concerns and suggestions for reversing the high rate of these incidents.
Young people can find alternative ways to enjoy Halloween in D.C., said Claire Scattergood, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs. They can attend Dupont Circle's High Heel Drag Race, a running competition for drag queens, or they can trick-or-treat at the embassies, she said.
"There are other things to do on Halloween," Scattergood said.
More than 40 percent of fatalities from car crashes nationwide on Halloween in 2005 involved a driver or motor vehicle operator with an illegal blood-alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Web site. Nationally, drunken drivers kill more than three times as many people on Halloween than on New Year's Eve, the Web site reported.
Many of these drunken drivers are young people. The target age group of the Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign is 21- to 30-year-old males, the demographic that predominantly drives under the influence. In Virginia, almost 80 percent of drunken driving arrests involve males in this age group, said Kurt Erickson, president of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program.
"It's still a male-dominated crime," he said.
Some AU students expressed concern about the increased law enforcement presence leading up to Halloween.
The actions of D.C. officials in preventing drunken driving are commendable, but officials should not target young people specifically, said Danny Maki, a sophomore in SPA.
"If they target college students specifically, it's more like entrapment," Maki said.
Still, Washington Regional Alcohol Program and Checkpoint Strikeforce are holding initiatives to prevent drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel.
In one of these events, Checkpoint Strikeforce held a demonstration Thursday in Adams Morgan's bar district to show the campaign's DUI Mobile Station, a trailer that acts as a processing station and a holding cell for intoxicated drivers caught by police at numerous checkpoints throughout the D.C. area, according to Erickson.
Another Washington Regional Alcohol Program is SoberRide, which provides a free cab ride of up to a $50 fare for people 21 and over who have consumed alcohol or intend to drink on Halloween, according to Washington Regional Alcohol Program's Web site.
The phone number for a free cab is 800-200-8294 (TAXI). However, SoberRide only accepts calls from cell phones with a D.C., Virginia or Maryland area code and any local landline or pay phone. The program, which operates during the December to January holiday season, St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day and Halloween will be offered this week from 4 p.m. Wednesday through 4 a.m. Thursday.
Washington Regional Alcohol Program is a public-private partnership sponsored by the D.C. Department of Transportation, Maryland Highway Safety Office and Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, as well as private corporations like Anheuser-Busch, Safeway, the Washington Wizards and Coors, according to the program's Web site.
