GALVESTON

Requiring video cameras at bars was one of the possible steps the city council considered in a lengthy conversation Thursday about how to prevent drunk driving after a month of deadly crashes, all involving alleged alcohol abuse.

The talks came as Galveston police have been ramping up DWI arrests in hopes of getting more intoxicated people off the road and in response to the three crashes, which deeply troubled many in the island community.

The idea to require cameras at bars emerged during a discussion with investigators from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, which oversees sale and use of alcohol.

“Video is very important,” Coulter said. “It’s not the end all be all. But if we had it, our chances of success were higher.”

The commission conducted 550 inspections of bars in Galveston County last year, 230 of which were undercover investigations in which agents pretend to be bar patrons in attempt to observe violations, commission Lt. Geoffrey Weise said.

The discussions follow a month of deadly crashes on Galveston roads.

A Sept. 2 crash killed a 14-year-old boy and hospitalized three others after a driver police allege was intoxicated ran through a traffic light at high speed and slammed into a Jeep near Ball High School.

That driver is charged with murder, according to police.

On Aug. 14, Galvestonian John David Bell, 53, died after a car crashed into the scooter he was driving near the intersection of Avenue U and 53rd Street. The driver of the car was charged with intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle in connection to the death, according to Galveston County Jail records.

On Aug. 6, four people in a golf cart died when an SUV traveling east on Avenue R failed to stop at the intersection with 33rd Street and struck a Dodge truck, which collided with the golf cart, police said.

A lawsuit family members of people who died in the Aug. 6 crash is still ongoing in the 268th District Court in Fort Bend County. The lawsuit alleges several Galveston bars overserved Miguel Espinoza, who has been charged with four counts of intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle and one count of intoxicated assault with a vehicle in connection to the case.

District 1 Councilwoman Sharon Lewis also suggested installing a large sign near the entrance of the island to let visitors know the city wasn’t playing around when it came to drinking and driving.

“’Welcome, but we will not tolerate DUIs,’” Lewis said.

The Galveston Police Department last month fielded a DWI task force, also in response to the string of deadly crashes, Chief Doug Balli said.

Since Aug. 19, police have arrested 73 people for impaired driving, Balli said. Before the task force went to work, an average of 20 people a month had been arrested for impaired driving, he said.

Balli has said he’d like to hire enough officers to field a permanen dedicated to traffic enforcement.

The way to find impaired drivers is to look for basic traffic violations, he said.

Balli also emphasized the importance of teaching people better options than driving impaired, he said.

“Personal responsibility is very important, but also peer responsibility,” Balli said. “Don’t allow your friends to do it.”

That education is key, especially for people visiting the island, District 2 Councilman William Schuster said.

“We could give everybody infinite resources to handle DUIs and at the end of the day it falls back on education and personal responsibility,” Schuster said. “Most of them aren’t even from our community. We get 7 million visitors.”

Keri Heath: 409-683-5241; keri.heath@galvnews.com or on Twitter @HeathKeri.