Low DUI death rate is lauded

WASHINGTON — Nationally, the number of alcohol-related fatal accidents hovers near 40 percent of the total. So, Utah was doing well with only 22 percent of highway fatalities resulting from drivers who had been drinking.

But when the state dropped that already-low rate to 15 percent, public safety officials from around the nation really took notice. And on Wednesday, Gov. Olene Walker and other state officials were honored by the National Commission Against Drunk Driving for their efforts to reduce traffic fatalities involving alcohol.

"We take it extremely seriously," said Utah Highway Patrol Col. Scott Duncan, who was the keynote speaker at an annual awards luncheon for the group, formerly the Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving. "But there was some luck involved, and we will take that."

Luck, he said, was a mild winter and a religious population that by and large frowns on any form of drinking and driving.

Dave Beach, director of the Utah Highway Safety Office, accepted the award on behalf of Walker and the state, saying it was "not just an effort by one or two people" but by groups and individuals around the state.

Duncan said Utah's success in curbing drunken driving has been a team effort that includes the current and former governors who were committed to the cause, a Legislature willing to pass tough DUI laws and law enforcement officers who are willing to work on Friday and Saturday nights targeting drunks where the problem starts, at bars.

The result: From 1998 to 2003, Utah had the lowest percentage of alcohol-related highway deaths in the nation. And from 2002 to 2003, the state had the largest decrease in alcohol-related deaths anywhere in the nation.

The commission called that record "truly astounding."

Duncan became personally involved in the DUI enforcement crusade in his capacity as superintendent of UHP where he received a daily report on every highway fatality in the state. In his day planner, he recorded the names of the victims and the causes of the accidents.

"It went from being statistics to being very personal," he said. "I realized we are losing family members on our highways."

Duncan has leveraged state and federal money, along with donations from private entities, to pay for overtime shifts. Undercover officers were sent into bars to watch for intoxicated patrons trying to leave, they saturated areas where DUI was deemed a real problem, there were sobriety checkpoints and officers up and down the state campaigned to educate the public about the dangers of drinking and driving.