There aren’t many things scarier than the ghouls and goblins wandering San Diego’s neighborhoods on Halloween, but drunk drivers who share those same streets are one of them.

This past Saturday night, the SDSU Police Department hosted a DUI and driver safety checkpoint in the 5800 block of Montezuma Road in an effort to reduce the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol involved crashes.

Educating the public and increasing awareness

The goal of the checkpoint was to educate the public and increase awareness on the dangers of impaired driving and to encourage sober designated drivers.

The checkpoint ran from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and throughout the evening 1,163 vehicles passed through the checkpoint.  Of those, 46 vehicles were sent to the secondary inspection area for further evaluation by officers.

Arrests and citations issued

In all, eight drivers were arrested for DUI, one for a DUI warrant and 10 other drivers were issued citations for other alcohol or license violations.  A total of nine vehicles were also impounded.

This is the second such checkpoint that the SDSU Police Department has hosted over the past two years. The last one was located on 55th Street near Fraternity Row.

Checkpoint part of a national program

The national Drunk Driving Over the Limit, Under Arrest crackdown is led by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and combines high-visibility enforcement with heightened public awareness through advertising and publicity.

Funding for this operation was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the NHTSA and the San Diego County Avoid DUI enforcement grant, which brings together law enforcement agencies from all over San Diego County in an effort to combat drunk driving.

Agencies that participated in the checkpoint included the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, San Diego Police Department, La Mesa Police Department, Coronado Police Department, National City Police Department, San Diego Probation Department and Escondido Police Department.