NHTSA Evaluation of State’s .05 BAC Per Se Law
A new study sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is making headlines. The final report issued in February 2022 is an evaluation of Utah’s .05% BAC per se law.
In 2018, Utah became the first state to lower its impaired driving per se limit to less than .08%. All eyes have been on the state to see whether lowering the legal drinking limit was effective in reducing impaired driving and fatal drunk driving accidents.
Lower Drinking Limit Crash Study Results
The study indicates that there was a reduction in crashes with alcohol involvement since the law went into effect. Estimated reductions were in the 10% to 25% range for many of the crash measurements.
There was also a reduction in the number of fatal crashes. In 2019, there were 225 fatal crashes accounting for 248 total fatalities, a drop from the 259 fatal crashes and 281 fatalities in 2016. The crash rate was reduced by 19.8% and the fatality rate was reduced by 18.3% when comparing those years.
Comparing data nationwide, the reduction in the number of fatal crashes and total fatalities was more significant in Utah. In the rest of the United States, there was a 5.6% reduction in the fatal crash and a 5.9% reduction in the fatality rate during that same period.
Overall Effect of Utah’s .05% BAC Law
Overall the effect of the lower drinking limit seems to have been fewer crashes and lower alcohol involvement. The lowered limit did not seem to affect alcohol sales and tourism which has continued to increase in the state. It also did not markedly increase the number of DUI arrests which many opponents of the law had feared. The effects seem to be positive and had the intended impact of improving traffic safety.