VCU news

By Mike Porter

Virginia Commonwealth University Police will target drunken and drug-impaired drivers at an overnight checkpoint this weekend.

VCU Police will operate a sobriety checkpoint from 11 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18, until 3 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19. The checkpoint will take place along the 700 block of West Main Street. Officers also will check for seatbelt compliance.

The checkpoint is being funded through a Virginia Highway Safety Grant from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Vehicles will be screened by officers from the VCU Police Department and Virginia State Police and agents from the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Bureau of Law Enforcement.

A similar sobriety checkpoint last weekend at the same location resulted in the screening of 313 vehicles. Police arrested seven people for driving under the influence and issued 33 traffic summonses for a variety of safety violations. Eleven vehicles were towed from the scene.

According to figures released in June by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 11,773 people in the United States were killed in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes in 2008, down from 13,041 fatalities in 2007. In Virginia, 294 people were killed in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes in 2008, down from 303 in 2007.