Drunk driving: Beach vacation is carefree, but one Delaware town has sobering reality check

Some Delaware beach visitors (and locals, too) have been known to take fun in the sun to another level, but it may be surprising which Delaware beach town sees the most arrests for impaired driving.

Or maybe not.

Information gathered through Freedom of Information Act requests and publicly posted data show that Rehoboth Beach has made the most arrests of all Delaware's beach towns for driving under the influence in recent years, with 192 documented arrests from 2016 through 2018.

Dewey Beach takes second place, with 93 DUI arrests over that three-year span.

The beach town with the fewest is Fenwick Island, which reported 15 arrests during that same period.

Data from the Delaware State Police, which patrol areas of Sussex County outside of those towns' legal limits, was unavailable.

More:Driver charged with 3rd DUI after running over woman's foot: Rehoboth police

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While it may be amusing to watch someone walk from a bar and face plant in the sand after having one too many, drunken driving is no laughing matter. 

About one in three traffic deaths are caused by drunken driving in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previous surveys by the agency have found Delawareans are more likely to report driving after having too much to drink compared to a nationwide response.

Throughout the state from 2013 to 2017, there were 24 DUI related fatalities. Those deaths were among nearly 1,900 DUI arrests and nearly 500 DUI-related crashes.

Underage drinking can also be a cause for concern at the Delaware beaches. As towns like Dewey Beach cope with an influx of recent high school graduates — known as June bugs to the locals — officials are also prepared to crack down on alcohol getting into the hands of minors. 

In Dewey, if a minor has alcohol, they will be detained until a parent or guardian can claim them from the police station. In the last three years, Dewey police handled 167 citations related to underage possession or consumption of alcohol, including offenses among minors.

Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft are available at the Delaware beaches as an alternative to getting behind the wheel and risking lives on the road.

Here is a breakdown of DUI arrests made annually in the last three years in Delaware's beach resort towns, listed from north to south:

Lewes

2016: 22

2017: 29

2018: 32

Total: 83

Rehoboth Beach

2016: 64

2017: 83

2018: 45

Total: 192

Dewey Beach

2016: 25

2017: 44

2018: 24

Total: 93

Bethany Beach

2016: 28

2017: 18

2018: 19

Total: 65

South Bethany

2016: 9

2017: 9

2018: 1

Total: 19

Fenwick Island

2016: 8

2017: 2

2018: 5

Total: 15

Contact reporter Maddy Lauria at (302) 345-0608, mlauria@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @MaddyinMilford.