Utah’s decrease blood alcohol stage commonplace for drivers has resulted in decreased site visitors deaths and improved highway security, a brand new federal research has discovered.
In 2019, Utah grew to become the primary and solely state to make it unlawful to drive with a blood alcohol stage of .05% or increased. All different states and the District of Columbia use a .08% commonplace.
The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration research discovered that Utah’s fatal crash rate dropped by almost 20% in 2019, in contrast with 2016.
“As our research exhibits, altering the legislation to .05% in Utah saved lives and motivated extra drivers to take steps to keep away from driving impaired,” Steven Cliff, the company’s deputy administrator, stated in a information launch.
Utah’s drop in crash and fatality charges was a “important enchancment” over the remainder of the USA in the course of the yr studied, which had a deadly crash and fatality price discount of about 6%, the company stated. The neighboring states of Arizona, Colorado and Nevada didn’t present the identical ranges of enchancment as Utah.
The company additionally discovered that in 2019, greater than 22% of those that drank alcohol in Utah indicated that that they had modified their behaviors as soon as the legislation went into impact, equivalent to making certain {that a} sober trip was obtainable.
The company famous that not one of the unfavorable financial results that had been feared with the change from .08% to .05% had occurred. Nor had arrests for drunken driving spiked. In 2016, police in Utah made 8,828 DUI arrests; in 2019, they made 8,512, the report stated.
Utah’s choice to decrease its blood alcohol stage commonplace to .05% has been controversial. The restaurant and hospitality trade denounced it, saying it went too far. They stated it focused the improper group of accountable drinkers and would harm small companies and tourism.
Supporters, together with some site visitors security advocates and the Nationwide Transportation Security Board, say decrease limits deter drunken driving and save lives. Many industrialized nations, together with Australia, France and Italy, have already got a .05% or decrease commonplace.
“This research’s real-world outcomes additional show what we already knew—reducing the BAC restrict saves lives in the USA. The hope is that different states will see these outcomes and be part of Utah in passing laws for .05,” stated security board member Tom Chapman in a information launch.
Within the final decade, laws to decrease the blood alcohol content material restrict has been proposed in half a dozen different states, however has not handed.
