Halted by COVID, Delaware resumes ‘five-star’ tool to reduce traffic fatalities — DUI roadblocks

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Since 2022, when 165 people died on Delaware roads, tying a 34-year-old record for fatalities,  the number of drivers, passengers, pedestrians and bicyclists killed in crashes has steadily fallen.

Last year, the figure fell to 137. This year, 87 people have died on roadways so far, putting Delaware on pace for 125 deaths in 2024.

But that’s still more than one traffic fatality every three days in the nation’s second-smallest state. With those grim statistics in mind, police and highway safety officials have resumed enforcement to reduce a significant cause of accidents and deaths — impaired driving.

In each of the last five years, at least 30 of the deaths involved an alcohol-impaired driver, state statistics show.

To stem that dangerous practice, state and local police, in concert with the Delaware Office of Highway Safety, have reinstituted Driving Under the Influence checkpoints — commonly known as roadblocks — for the first time in five years. That last DUI checkpoint was in late 2019, and the practice was halted after the coronavirus pandemic clobbered the state in 2020.

So on Friday, Sept. 6, police set up the roadblock in the Milford area that straddles Kent and Sussex counties in southern Delaware. From 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., officers stopped 340 cars. They made four DUI arrests and one drug arrest, took one wanted person into custody, gave one driver a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt, and issued five other traffic citations.

Niddrie said federal transportation authorities consider checkpoints a “five-star” enforcement tool.

“When numbers are trending down, that’s positive, but the only acceptable number is zero,” said Meghan Niddrie of the highway safety office. “Checkpoints are very effective countermeasures to getting impaired drivers off of the road, and the top priority is safety for everybody involved.”

Niddrie noted that impaired driving also includes being under the influence of opioids and said anybody drinking or taking drugs needs to refrain from getting behind the wheel.

“Driving under the influence affects everybody on the road, not just the person that’s impaired,’’ she said “You could be the one doing everything right, and an impaired driver swerves into your lane. You’re putting everyone’s life at risk on the road.”

While authorities alert the media about checkpoints once they are scheduled, Niddrie said the date and location of the next one has not yet been determined.

Jana Tidwell of American Automobile Association (AAA) said the group supports checkpoints, and notes that people who are drinking can have a designated driver, use a ride-sharing service, or just stay home.

“Raising awareness for the impact that impaired driving has on our roadways, on society as a whole, and to sadly the victims, is always a good thing because what we ultimately want to do here is change driver behavior,’’ Tidwell said.

“Impaired driving, drunk driving, is 100% preventable. It doesn’t have to happen. It shouldn’t happen because there are so many alternatives out there, especially in this day and age where we should not see people getting behind the wheel and driving after consuming alcohol.”

State police Lt. India Sturgis urges people not to let friends or even strangers drive drunk.

“Step in if you see someone about to make a dangerous decision,’’ Sturgis said.

“It’s tragic. That’s the last time they saw her”

State Rep. Ed Osienski, a Newark-area Democrat, said the state needs to do whatever it can to reduce the impact of impaired driving, speeding, and distracted driving from cell phone use or other reasons to pave the way for safer roads.

So, the lawmaker is pleased that the police have resumed sobriety checkpoints.

“Every once in a while, they need to ramp that up to remind everyone” of the dangers of drunk driving, as well as the “huge financial burden’’ a driver faces with a DUI charge, Osienski said.

“It causes fatalities, and unfortunately, a lot of the people that die from this are not always the ones that are taking part in that illegal activity of driving impaired.”

He noted that in recent years, lawmakers and Gov. John Carney’s administration enacted a handful of laws aimed at making roadways safer.

One makes speeding over 90 mph a reckless driving offense.

Another creates a five-year trial run for speed cameras in work zones and residential areas within municipalities.

A third requires drivers to change lanes or reduce speeds when any vehicle is pulled over on the shoulder with its warning lights on.

Osienski said it’s incumbent on legislators to do whatever is necessary to prevent tragedies like the one last month on Newark’s Main Street when a speeding motorcyclist fleeing police killed University of Delaware freshman Noelia Gomez after her first day of classes.

“It’s tragic,’’ Osienski said. “That case alone is just so sad when the parents, just days before, said goodbye to their daughter probably for the first time for any lengthy period, and that’s the last they saw her.”