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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s new DUI law, which is the strictest in the nation, led to 38 arrests in its first month, officials said Monday.
Those arrests were made on people who had a blood alcohol concentration between .05 and .079 during January, according to a news release from the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Under the law, which took effect on Dec. 30, the legal blood alcohol content for driving in the state was lowered from .08 percent to .05 percent. The Utah State Legislature passed the law in 2017 but delayed its start date.
Overall, there were 844 DUI arrests statewide in January, the department said. The numbers include arrests made by various law enforcement agencies across the state, according to the release.
Of the 38 arrests made under Utah’s new law, seven were made on people under 21 years old, according to the release. Another 24 were made on alcohol-restricted drivers, who are not allowed to drive with any amount of alcohol in their system, according to the release.
Two had a combination of illegal and/or impairing prescription drugs in their system in addition to alcohol.
One driver refused to participate in the testing by an officer.
