Checkpoint Strikeforce ramps up for the holidays

Published 6:44 am Thursday, December 24, 2020

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Gov. Ralph Northam recently announced that the commonwealth’s 19th annual Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign and enforcement effort is ramping up on Virginia’s roads this holiday travel season to help curb alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

According to figures from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), 253 individuals died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes on Virginia’s roadways through Dec. 8, compared to 249 alcohol-related traffic fatalities recorded during the same period in 2019.

In partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” national enforcement mobilization period from Dec. 18 to January 1, state and local law enforcement agencies will be conducting more than 700 saturation patrols and nearly 100 sobriety checkpoints throughout Virginia.