Evaluation of Utah’s .05 BAC Per Se Law

In 2017, the Governor of Utah signed into law House Bill 155, modifying Utah Code §41-6a-502 to prohibit people 21 and over from operating noncommercial vehicles with blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) of .05 g/dL or greater, rather than the previous limit of .08 g/dL. The law established this as a per se offense and carried an effective date of December 30, 2018. With this legislation, Utah became the first State to adopt an impaired driving per se BAC limit lower than .08. This study examined the impacts of lowering Utah’s BAC limit. A review of the legislative process indicated the motivation for the Utah .05 law was the belief that traffic safety would be improved in the State by the reduction in the BAC per se limit. The results of the State crash data analyses showed reductions (i.e., fewer crashes and lower alcohol involvement) for almost all of the crash and driver alcohol involvement measures for the 21 months after the law was passed, and for the 12 months after it went into effect. Many of these crash measures showed estimated reductions in the 10% to 25% range with some even higher. An examination of FARS revealed reductions in fatal crashes and overall numbers of people killed compared to 2016. In 2019, despite increased vehicle miles traveled (VMT), Utah recorded 225 fatal crashes and 248 fatalities, which were lower than the 259 fatal crashes and 281 fatalities for the year 2016. When VMT is considered, the fatal crash rate reduction from 2016 to 2019 in Utah was 19.8%, and the fatality rate reduction was 18.3%. In comparison, the rest of the United States showed a 5.6% crash rate reduction and 5.9% fatality rate reduction during the same time period. A survey conducted by the State found that in 2018, 26.6% of drinkers and 12.6% of the non-drinkers thought the limit was .05 even though the law had not yet taken effect. In 2019, 22.1% of drinkers indicated they had, in fact, changed their behaviors once the law went into effect. The most common behavior modification reported was making sure transportation was available when drinking away from home. The data reviewed for this study indicated none of the negative effects some projected were realized. In fact, alcohol sales and per capita consumption continued to increase, as did tourism and tax revenues. Likewise, DUI arrests for alcohol did not increase markedly after the law became effective.

• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/60428
• Corporate Authors:

  Dunlap and Associates, Inc.

  110 Lenox Avenue
  Stamford, CT  United States  06906-2300

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Thomas, F Dennis
  • Blomberg, Richard
  • Darrah, Jenna
  • Graham, Lindsey
  • Southcott, Tyler
  • Dennert, Rachel
  • Taylor, Eileen
  • Treffers, Ryan
  • Tippetts, Scott
  • McKnight, Scott
  • Berning, Amy
• Publication Date: 2022-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 90p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Blood alcohol levels; Crashes; Drunk driving; Fatalities; Law
• Geographic Terms: Utah
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01838045
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT HS 813 233, 326-1
• Contract Numbers: DTNH2217D00031/693JJ918F00019
• Files: HSL, NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Feb 28 2022 5:05PM