Halloween DUI Patrols Started Oct. 23 in Lombard: What DuPage Drivers Should Know Before Oct. 31
Starting Friday, October 23, the Lombard Police Department is stepping up traffic enforcement to find and stop impaired drivers. The extra patrols run through the morning of Monday, November 2, 2026, which covers Halloween weekend. If you drive through Lombard, Glen Ellyn, Wheaton or anywhere else in DuPage County over the next ten days, here is what to know.
What Lombard police announced
In a release posted October 20, the department asked drivers to drive sober, buckle up and follow traffic laws while children and families are out trick-or-treating. “With more children and families out in our neighborhoods, drivers need to slow down, pay attention and watch for pedestrians,” said Police Lieutenant Manny Camuy.
- Alcohol and cannabis both count. Cannabis is legal for adults in Illinois, but the department notes that driving while impaired by cannabis is still prohibited and can lead to a DUI arrest.
- Seat belts for everyone. Drivers and passengers are required by law to wear seat belts.
- Part of a statewide effort. The patrols run under the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” and “Drive High. Get a DUI.” campaigns, which are funded by federal highway safety grants through the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). The Illinois State Police and local law enforcement agencies statewide support the effort as part of IDOT’s “It’s Not a Game” initiative.
Halloween falls on Saturday, October 31 this year, and the Village of Lombard recommends trick-or-treating between 3 and 7 p.m. That puts kids on neighborhood streets right as daylight fades.
Why Halloween night gets extra attention
National numbers from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) explain the focus:
- From 2019 to 2024, 176 people were killed on Halloween night (6 p.m. October 31 to 5:59 a.m. November 1) in crashes that involved a drunk driver with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher. Those victims included 31 pedestrians.
- In 2024, nearly half of all crash deaths during Halloween night were alcohol-related.
- Across all of 2024, alcohol-impaired driving crashes killed 11,904 people, 30% of all U.S. traffic deaths. That is an average of one person every 44 minutes.
NHTSA’s Halloween tips for drivers are simple: be alert for trick-or-treaters, slow down and scan the road, watch for young children in unexpected places because they may dart into the street, and contact law enforcement if you see a drunk driver.
What this means for you
Here’s our take: the safest Halloween plan is the boring one. Decide how you are getting home before the party starts, give yourself extra time in subdivisions, and treat every parked car as a place a child could step out from. A few more practical points:
- Expect slow, tight streets. Halloween evening brings curbside parking, cars pulling in and out of driveways and kids crossing mid-block. Those are the conditions where low-speed bumps and parking-lot scrapes happen, even to careful drivers.
- If someone hits you, document everything. Take photos of both vehicles and the scene, and exchange driver’s license, registration and insurance information. The Illinois State Police says drivers must file a crash report if a crash causes a death, an injury, or property damage above a set dollar threshold (a lower threshold applies if any driver is uninsured). If no officer comes to the scene, ISP says to file a report as soon as possible, within 10 days.
- Hit and run? ISP advises not to follow the other vehicle. Get as much detail as you can and report it as soon as possible.
- Look past the obvious damage. A small front-end hit can affect more than the bumper cover. Headlights, the hood and the fenders can all take a hit. A dent where the paint is still intact is often a candidate for paintless dent repair, while cracked paint or a torn bumper usually needs bodywork. An inspection decides which fits.
- Check your policy. How a repair is handled depends on your own coverage and deductible, so talk with your insurer.
Our team at EZ Tech Paintless Dent Removal & Collision repairs everything from parking-lot dings to collision damage across the western suburbs, and we’re happy to show you what we find and walk you through your options. This article is general information, not legal or insurance advice.
Sources: Village of Lombard, “Lombard Police Urge Residents to Drive Sober this Halloween” (October 20, 2026); Village of Lombard, “Halloween in Lombard: Reminders and Event Details” (September 30, 2026); NHTSA Traffic Safety Marketing, “Halloween | Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving”; NHTSA, “Halloween Safety Tips”; NHTSA, “Trump’s Transportation Department Reminds Americans to Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” (August 18, 2026); Illinois State Police, “Crash Reports.” Accessed October 23, 2026.
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