DUI fatalities decreased in '08

Drunken-driving fatalities in Utah decreased 19 percent between 2007 and 2008, according to a report to the Legislature on Wednesday.

The Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice's Seventh Annual DUI Report to the Transportation Interim Committee noted that in 2008 there were 34 DUI-related fatalities, down from 42 in 2007.

"Of course that's still 34 too many," said Mary Lou Emerson of the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice.

Usually the lowest in the U.S. for DUI fatalities, Utah was edged out by Vermont in 2008. Among Utah fatalities that year, 16.7 percent were DUI-related. In Vermont, 16.4 percent were DUI-related, Emerson said. The national average is 32 percent.

Among arrested drunken drivers in Utah in 2009, most were men (76 percent), and mostly ages of 25 to 36 (39 percent).

And the average Utahn arrested had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.14. The legal limit is 0.08.

The Utah Legislature earlier this year passed nine bills related to drunken driving, including making it a third-degree felony for not remaining at the scene of an accident that results in death or injury if the driver was previously convicted of certain violations. Lawmakers also allocated $5.6 million for DUI law enforcement, prosecution of alcohol-related cases and alcohol addiction treatment.

The DUI report can be found online at justice.utah.gov.

— Laura Hancock