Statewide 682 drivers suspected of being impaired were arrested during this year’s St. Patrick’s Day DUI “Heat is On” enforcement campaign March 11-18.
During that same period, five people were killed on Colorado roads, although preliminary investigations suggest none were alcohol-related, the Colorado State Patrol reported today.
The largest number of arrests were in Denver, where 101 drivers suspected of being impaired were taken into custody. There were 42 arrests in Colorado Springs, 48 by sheriff’s deputies and state troopers in Adams County, 21 in Pueblo, 19 in Lakewood and 18 in Aurora.
Each year in Colorado, more than 30,000 people are arrested for DUI and nearly 200 people are killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes – representing approximately 40 percent of Colorado’s total motor vehicle fatalities, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
As part of the campaign, CDOT encouraged partiers to use a designated driver and download a free R-U-Buzzed application for the iPhone or Android. The Android version, new this year, was downloaded 1,100 times. The iPhone app has been downloaded 8,000 times this year and more than 170,000 times since it was introduced two years ago.
The app helps users estimate blood alcohol concentration. To download the app visit
“The R-U-Buzzed app is a great tool for people to help them understand how few drinks it can take to put them over the legal limit of .08,” state patrol chief Col. James Wolfinbarger said in a news release.
In Colorado Springs, CDOT partnered with Designated Driver of Colorado Springs to provide partiers a free sober ride home in their own cars. Over the holiday week, the group provided 283 sober rides, 91 of which were given on St. Patrick’s Day. The group’s previous record was 72 rides in a single night.
For more information about arrest statistics state wide, visit .
