- Utah's 0.05 BAC limit, the strictest in the U.S., shows mixed results.
- DUI fatalities dropped post-2018 law change but spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The average BAC level in Utah DUI arrests as of 2024 is 0.15%, suggesting troopers are primarily stopping drivers who are dangerously impaired, not borderline cases.
SALT LAKE CITY — Every year, drinking and driving causes immeasurable grief in communities across the country. Utah stands out with the lowest blood alcohol limit in the country – 0.05.
The legal limit was lowered from the standard 0.08 at the end of 2018.
Data from the next year, 2019, showed an immediate positive impact, but now state DUI data is available through 2024, showing long-term progress has been uneven.
The KSL Investigators analyzed six years of data prior to the change and the six years after to find out whether the country's lowest BAC limit is leading to meaningful change on Utah's roadways.
Utah's DUI Squad
On a recent Friday night, KSL rode along with the Utah Highway Patrol's DUI squad. Troopers stopped speeders, wrong-way drivers and anyone else they saw who could have been impaired.
"They're out there looking to try to get those drivers off the road before some type of tragedy or a crash occurs," said Lt. Cameron Roden.
Utah's lower blood alcohol limit went into effect on Dec. 30, 2018, but Roden said the way they initiate stops hasn't changed. When a trooper first observes potential signs of drunk driving, they have no idea what the driver's blood alcohol content might be.
The data
"We were very positive in 2019 when we saw all of our numbers kind of start to dip," said Jason Mettmann with the Utah Highway Safety Office.
The numbers show a sharp decline in DUI fatalities immediately after the new limit went into effect, with 27 alcohol-related fatalities in 2019, down from 48 in 2018.
But then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which spiked numbers across the board.
"States all across the nation saw an increase in poor traffic safety behavior exactly correlated with when the pandemic started shutting things down," Mettmann said.
The uptick in poor roadway behavior troopers witnessed wasn't just related to impaired driving.
"We were seeing speeds, aggressive driving (and) distracted driving; all of those behaviors go up," Roden said.
Total alcohol-related crashes have steadily come down since the pandemic peak in 2021. But progress with fatalities has been slow. In fact, the deadliest year in the 12-year period we looked at came after the law changed, with 67 deaths in 2022.
Data the Utah Department of Public Safety provided to KSL included incomplete figures for 2025, so that year was not included in the analysis.
Average BAC is three times the legal limit
The KSL Investigators also reviewed DUI arrest data from recent years to understand how often drivers are being arrested with a blood alcohol content level below the previous limit.
Only a small percentage of Utah arrests involve drivers with a blood alcohol level between 0.05% and 0.079% — the range between Utah's current limit and the previous standard. In 2024, just 6% of DUI arrests included a BAC level in that range.
The average BAC level in Utah DUI arrests as of 2024 is 0.15% — three times the legal limit and nearly double the old threshold. Those numbers suggest troopers are primarily stopping drivers who are dangerously impaired, not borderline cases.
'DUI is a choice'
Despite high numbers of alcohol-related fatalities during multiple years since the change went into effect, Mettmann said the Highway Safety Office does believe the lower legal limit is making a difference.
"We feel like the 0.05 law change has made a difference, and Utah is setting the example for other states," Mettmann said. "Several other states across the nation are looking at this legislation and looking at how it's affected traffic safety in Utah, and we see encouraging numbers now in the last couple of years since we've settled from the pandemic. Other states want to follow suit."
Mettmann said research the department has conducted showed overconfidence is a factor in DUI cases, and the lower limit is causing people to more carefully examine their level of sobriety.
"Those people who felt overconfident at 0.08 and feeling like, 'Oh, I know my limits with this BAC,' they maybe started to rethink that confidence when that changed," he said.
But Mettmann said the law is just one factor in a problem that can't be curbed solely with enforcement.
"Impaired driving is 100% preventable every single time," he said. "DUI is a choice."
Troopers are calling on Utahns to choose a sober ride.
"We don't want you to stop drinking or enjoying our bar and restaurant scene," said Mettmann. "But if you drink, please don't drive."
