Arizona DUI Arrests Down In 2013

By Nick Blumberg
Published: Monday, January 6, 2014 - 5:10pm

The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety said DUI arrests fell statewide for the first time since 2004. In 2013, law enforcement in Arizona arrested more than 29,000 people for driving under the influence. That is about 3,000 thousand fewer than in 2012.

Arrests during the holiday season were also down. DUI task forces around Arizona ran from the week of Thanksgiving through New Year’s. About 100 fewer people were arrested for DUI during that period, even though police made several thousand more traffic stops.

The number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities, which researchers said is a better measure of DUI rates, has not changed dramatically over the past several years in Arizona, but it is followed a sharp downward trend nationwide over the past three decades. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, Arizona had 227 alcohol-impaired driving deaths in 2012.