Study says 1 in 4 Arizonans believe driving under the influence is not a criminal offense

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - A provider in employment background screening conducted a survey of more than 3,200 drivers across the United States that revealed that about 27 percent of Arizona drivers believe that driving under the influence of alochol is not a criminal offense, but a civil one.

“iprospectcheck” conducted the survey, breaking down numbers across the country. Drivers in North Dakota were most convinced about this, with over 50 percent of responders saying that driving under the influence of alcohol is a civil offense. Comparitevly, only 8 percent of people in Wyoming thought this was the case.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Adminitration reported that across the U.S., nearly 30 people are killed every day by drunk-driving crashes- equivalent to one death every 50 minutes.

And depsite the closures of bars and similar establishments due to COVID-19, states like Colorado, Florida and Pennsylvania have reported an icnrease in DUI cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

Additionally, the survey concluded that 1 in 5 of Arizona drivers admitted to having no idea about the legal drinking and driving limit. All states across the country have a legal blood-alcohol-content (BAC) limit of 0.8 percent.

Reassuringly, however, over half of employees polled say they would report a colleague if they knew they were driving while over the legal alcohol limit.

Lastly, the survey revealed that over 1 in 10 people think it’s more acceptable to drive under the influence of cannabis than alcohol- considering the recent and rapid development of cannabis usage laws across the country.