10 stats about DUIs

10 stats about DUIs

        In June 2019 Colorado's Division of Criminal Justice reported to the Colorado General Assembly “specific information relating to,” among other things, alcohol driving tickets (generally the report uses "DUI" to mean either driving under the influence or the lesser while ability impaired) in 2017 (the most recent data).  Here are some of the many interesting facts/statistics:

1.  In that year, there were 26,454 court cases filed statewide with at least one DUI charge (down from 27,244 in 2016).

    2.  Nearly 90% resulted in guilty, with 10% "dismissed."  On average, the time elapsed between case filing and disposition was 173 days.  (For reference, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, "more than 97% of [all] criminal cases [resolve] by plea...."  See the NACDL's Champion magazine, August 2019, p. 17.) 

3.  2/3rds of the cases involved a blood or breath test.

4.  There is a slightly lower "guilty" rate for cases with no blood or breath test (85.2% no test vs. 89.7% with test).  11.8% of cases without a test were dismissed compared with 8.6% with a test.  1.6% of all non-test cases ended in not guilty (categorized in the report as "dismissed, not guilty, diversion, and not proven") versus 0.4% with a test.  

5.  Males 18-20 years old had the highest rate of DUIs per population (curious to the extent they are age prohibited from drinking in the first place).  Overall, males made up nearly 75% of DUI defendants.

6.  Over 1/3^rd of all cases involved at least one prior DUI or DWAI.  Nearly 7% had three or more priors.

7.  Cases with no priors averaged a blood alcohol content test result of 0.157% (by statute the DWAI threshold is .05% and the DUI threshold is .08%).  Those with three or more priors averaged 0.191%.

8.  The three most common additional charges associated with DUI were careless driving, lane usage violation, and failure to display proof of insurance.  (Colorado's Division of Highway Safety 1989 "DUI Enforcement Manual" states that, at night, turning with a wide radius and straddling the center or lane marker are the "driving mistakes" most indicative of driving under the influence.) 

9.  DUI cases involving prescription drugs had a lower proportion of guilty, at 61.3%.

10. Most DUI cases (nearly 75%) do not involve a crash.

    Cops typically do not screen for other substances once alcohol over 0.08 is detected (suspected) because, according to the report, they “generally have enough evidence to reliably achieve a conviction.”

        See SLPC’s website “Links and Resources” for the link to the complete 84-page report.  http://www.sandersonlaw.net/links-and-resources.html

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