DUI arrests in Arizona rose during Thanksgiving weekend, data show

DUI arrests increased over Thanksgiving weekend compared with numbers from 2016, according to data released Tuesday by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

Arrests increased to 377 in 2017 from 333 in 2016.

Total traffic stops over the four-day period rose to 13,216 from 12,168 a year ago, according to office spokesman Alberto Gutier.

The rise in stops stemmed from various public-safety agencies increasing their funding for holiday patrols, including budgeting for overtime pay to ensure there are plenty of officers on the road, Gutier said.

"Maybe one of those traffic stops saves a life someplace, which is always the goal," he said.

Gutier said he was concerned by the rise in DUI drug arrests, which increased last weekend to 108 from 70 in 2016.

Extreme DUIs decrease

Not all of the statistics were bad though, Gutier said.

He emphasized that the number of sober drivers contacted during traffic stops spiked to 501 this year from 366 last year.

The average blood-alcohol concentration of drunk drivers decreased this year to reach its lowest point in four years at 0.141 percent. A blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or above renders a driver legally intoxicated and subject to a DUI arrest.

The average BAC in 2014 was 0.152 percent, a number that has decreased 0.001 percentage points each year until 2017, when it dropped 0.009 percentage points.

The number of extreme DUIs has also steadily declined to 73 over Thanksgiving weekend compared with 86 in 2014. An extreme DUI is classified as driving with a BAC of 0.15 percent or higher.

The number of criminal-speeding citations issued over the Thanksgiving weekend was 245, about the same as last year.

The number of civil-speeding citations increased by more than 400, with officers ticketing 2,883 drivers in 2017 compared with 2,440 in 2016.

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