Statewide Survey Reveals Surprising Stats About Reporting DUIs

Most Coloradans Likely to Know Someone Arrested for a DUI

A total of 288 DUI drivers were arrested in Colorado over the Memorial Day enforcement period, from May 25-29, 2018. The report from state law enforcement agencies comes just as a new statewide survey of 1,400 Coloradans found three of four respondents know someone with a DUI.

About 20 percent of those who took the survey—one in every five—knew at least three people who have received a DUI. Findings of the survey, commissioned by NoDUIColorado, a multi-agency effort that includes CDOT, are being released as enforcement of impaired drivers picks up for the summer.

Research also uncovered new information about how Coloradans feel about protecting their roads. Eighty percent of Coloradans surveyed said they would be likely to report someone drinking alcohol while driving. Only 56 percent of the same group said they would be likely to report someone using marijuana while behind the wheel, however. Of those who said they would be unlikely to report drivers who were actively using marijuana, nearly one-third said they do not believe marijuana-impaired driving is dangerous.

When ranking the most dangerous hazards on Colorado roads, nearly two-thirds of Coloradans said drunken drivers were in the top two. The survey revealed less concern about marijuana-impaired driving; thirty-two percent of survey participants viewed marijuana-impaired drivers as a top two danger. A similar number of survey participants—31 percent—ranked unsafe road conditions as a top-two hazard.

The perceived lack of danger around marijuana-impaired driving is echoed by data collected during CDOT's The Cannabis Conversation effort—an initiative to talk to Coloradans about their opinions, behaviors and habits related to marijuana and driving.

Driving impaired by alcohol or other drugs is illegal, and the average cost of a DUI in Colorado is $13,530. Last year, more than 20,000 drivers ended up in a courtroom charged with DUI or DWAI (driving while ability impaired).