Delaware’s Office of Highway Safety touts successful numbers for their DUI checkpoint and Sober Rides initiative for Thanksgiving.
The checkpoint and Sober Rides initiative aimed to reduce impaired driving and make the roads safer during the busiest travel holiday of the year.
On Wednesday night, November 26, a DUI checkpoint near New Castle City produced five DUI arrests out of 308 vehicles stopped and there were another 19 arrests for other violations.
This compares to the last checkpoint in late September which produced five DUI arrests out of 228 vehicles stopped.
As for the Sober Rides initiative, Office of Highway Safety community relations officer Caitlin Reed says more Delawareans used it on Thanksgiving Eve this year than last year.
"We had over 300 vouchers claimed and 162 trips were taken. That gives us about a 47% utilization rate,” said Reed. “So we saw a lot of Delawareans use the Sober Rides initiative to not make the choice to drive impaired, and we saw that with not too many DUI's at our checkpoint and we're grateful for that and the officers that were out doing that DUI checkpoint."
Sober Rides, which gives Delawareans a free $20 voucher for Uber or Lyft, will run again on New Year’s Eve.
Reed says this year’s numbers were much higher than last year.
She says more Delawareans used it this year.
"Thanksgiving eve for the 2024/2025, Sober Rides initiative we saw a 15% utilization rate. So with this year being at a 47% utilization rate, that's a big increase. A lot of people are making the right decisions on those nights out where there may potentially be more drinking," said Reed.
As for the most recent DUI checkpoint, it was a collaborative effort between OHS, Delaware State Police and local law enforcement.
