SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 2, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — New figures provided by the Utah Department of Public Safety show that 38 people have been arrested under Utah’s new .05 DUI law in the first month it was implemented.
The Utah DPS said in a news release it has tallied the statewide 0.050-0.079 blood alcohol content (BAC) DUI numbers for January 2019. The numbers represent arrests by agencies across the state.
Statewide there were 844 DUI arrests made in January. Of those 844 arrests, 38 were made on individuals whose BAC results were between 0.050 and 0.079. Here is a breakdown of those 38 arrests:
- Seven were under 21 years of age
- Twenty-four were alcohol restricted drivers (meaning they have had prior issues with alcohol and the courts and/or the Driver License Division has placed a restriction on them and they are not allowed to drive with any measurable amount of alcohol in their system)
- Two had a combination of illegal and/or impairing prescription drugs in their systems in addition to alcohol
- One refused to participate in testing by a police officer
- Four per se arrests were made in Utah during the month of January where individuals had a BAC between 0.050 – 0.079, with that being the only issue
The Utah DPS also released this alcohol related crash and fatal alcohol related crash comparison:
- January 2016: Three alcohol related fatal crashes, resulting in three deaths – 163 alcohol related crashes, resulting in 88 injured persons
- January 2017: One alcohol related fatal crash, resulting in one death – 149 alcohol related crashes, resulting in 78 injured persons
- January 2018: Two alcohol related fatal crashes, resulting in two deaths – 148 alcohol related crashes, resulting in 84 injured persons
- January 2019: One alcohol related fatal crash, resulting in one death – 133 alcohol related crashes, resulting in 59 injured persons
