Data Analysis: Arizona Crashes & Driving Under the Influence

Posted on March 16, 2022 in Car Accident,Drunk Driving,DUI

Some motor vehicle crashes and collisions are unfortunately not preventable, even when drivers exercise due caution and drive defensively. Undetectable road or weather conditions, the actions of other drivers, and mechanical failures can cause sudden and unexpected problems. However, many crashes can be avoided, particularly those where one or more motorist is driving under the influence (DUI).

Arizona Crash & DUI Accident Resources

To immediately jump to the resources at any point on this page, please click the appropriate link below.

What is DUI in Arizona?
What Factors Caused or Influenced Arizona Car Crashes in 2020?
DUI Motorcycle Accidents in Arizona
Tracking Alcohol-Related Crashes from 2016-2020
Alcohol-Related Crashes by Vehicle Type
What Were the Damages of Alcohol-Related Crashes in 2020?
Alcohol-Related Crashes by Arizona County
Arizona DUI Task Force Statistics, 2015-2020 (Holidays)
Annual Arizona DUI Task Force Statistics, 2015-2019
How Much Does the Arizona Highway Safety Program Spend on Impaired Driving?

What is Driving Under the Influence in Arizona?

Per Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) 28-1381, it is unlawful for any person under the influence of any drugs or intoxicating liquor to drive or be in “actual physical control” of a vehicle. Actual physical control encapsulates a number of factors meant to determine whether a motorist’s imminent or current actions pose a threat to themselves or others. Some of the criteria used to judge whether a driver was in actual physical control are: whether the vehicle was running, where the ignition key was located, whether the person was awake or asleep, and where the vehicle was stopped.

There are multiple types of DUI in Arizona, all of which can potentially lead to jail time and the suspension of driving privileges. Depending on the extenuating circumstances, a driver may be charged with:

DUI: The classification of DUI applies to a driver with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher, or 0.04 for the driver of a commercial vehicle requiring a commercial license.
Extreme DUI: An extreme DUI applies to a driver with an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or higher.
Aggravated DUI: If a driver commits a DUI while their license is cancelled, revoked, or suspended; commits a DUI with a person under the age of fifteen in the vehicle; commits a third DUI in 84 months; or refuses to submit a blood alcohol test while under an ignition interlock device requirement, they may be charged with aggravated DUI.

What Factors Potentially Influenced Arizona Motor Vehicle Crashes in 2020?

In 2020, investigations into 161,919 of Arizona’s 189,672 annual motor vehicle accidents determined that the driver(s) involved were under “no apparent influence.” For an additional 19,576 drivers, it was not determined whether they were influenced by any physical or mental factors. The breakdown of the remaining 8,177 drivers, where the motorist was confirmed to be under some form of influence, is in the graph below.

Arizona Drivers Under the Influence - Chart

Tracking the Causes for Arizona Motorcycle Crashes

In addition to breaking down the physical status and state of mind of drivers involved in Arizona motor vehicle crashes in 2020, we dug into similar statistics for motorcyclists. Similar to drivers, most motorcyclists were either under no apparent influence (1,905) or the circumstances of the crash were unknown (316). However, 152 of 2,373 bikers were found to have been influenced by a substance or physical ailment at the site of a crash. 40 fatalities occurred from these 153 instances. The graph below details the number of motorcyclists impacted by a particular condition in the direct aftermath of a crash.

Motorcyclists Under the Influence - Chart

Tracking Alcohol-Involved Crashes in Arizona from 2016 – 2020

A significant number of drivers and motorcyclists under the influence in Arizona in 2020 were affected by alcohol in their system. We reviewed data on alcohol-influenced crashes in the state over a five-year period from 2016-2020. From 2019 to 2020, the total number of alcohol related crashes decreased by 438 and the number of connected deaths went down by 77. However, alcohol-related accidents made up 4.56% of all Arizona crashes in 2020, which marked a 0.77% increase from 2019.

Data is from the AZDOT and involves crashes where the investigating officer indicated that a driver had been drinking an alcoholic beverage. No assumption should be made the motorist was legally intoxicated (BAC of .08 or higher) at the time of the crash.

Year	Alcohol Related Crashes	Percent of Crashes	Deaths	Percent of Fatalities	Injuries	Percent of Injuries
2016	4,965	3.90%	302	31.72%	3,351	5.88%
2017	4,921	3.85%	325	32.57%	3,181	5.69%
2018	4,705	3.68%	265	26.21%	3,014	5.61%
2019	4,944	3.79%	258	26.33%	2,999	5.55%
2020	4,506	4.56%	181	17.12%	2,863	6.92%

Passenger cars were involved in nearly half of Arizona’s crashes in 2020 (48.04%). It thus seems logical that they were also involved in alcohol-related crashes at a higher rate than other vehicles (54.94%). Passenger cars were involved in over three times as many “crashes causing injury” as the second-most prevalent vehicle in that category, pickup trucks.

Standard civilian vehicles were involved in most fatal alcohol-related accidents, as opposed to emergency vehicles, big rigs, and buses. 38.85% of fatal alcohol-related crashes in Arizona involved a passenger car, while station wagons and pickup trucks each amounted to 20.14% of lethal collisions.

Motor Vehicle Type	Total Crashes	Percentage of Crashes	Fatal Crashes	Injury Crashes	PDO Crashes
Passenger Cars	2,420	54.94%	54	943	1,423
Station Wagons	727	16.50%	28	290	409
Pickup Trucks	744	16.89%	28	312	404
Vans	46	1.04%	2	20	24
Truck Tractor	3	0.07%	0	3	0
Concrete Mixer Trucks	0	0	0	0	0
Dump Trucks	0	0	0	0	0
Garbage Trucks	0	0	0	0	0
Tanker Trucks	0	0	0	0	0
Wrecker / Tow Trucks	0	0	0	0	0
Other Trucks	140	3.18%	0	47	93
School Bus	1	0.02%	0	0	1
Other Buses	0	0	0	0	0
Motorcycle	106	2.41%	20	80	6
All-Terrain Vehicle	20	0.45%	5	13	2
Golf Carts	2	0.05%	0	2	0
Moped	2	0.05%	1	1	0
Recreational Vehicle	1	0.02%	0	1	0
Motor Home	0	0	0	0	0
Fire Trucks	0	0	0	0	0
Ambulances	1	0.02%	0	0	1
Other Vehicles	3	0.07%	0	1	2
Vehicle Type Unknown	189	4.29%	1	75	113
Totals	4,405	100.00%	139	1,788	2,478

The damages from crashes and collisions where a driver was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol were extensive in 2020. In total, estimated economic damages from fatal crashes, collision injuries, and property destruction across all Arizona counties amounted to $17,193,082,878. Maricopa County (55.01%) and Pima County (13.23%) combined accounted for 68.24% of the statewide economic damages. Greenlee County, in contrast, accounted for only 0.04% of the overall sum, with no estimated fatality-related damages. The statistics are tracked by county in the chart below, with all figures being in dollars.

County	Fatalities	Injuries	Property Damage Only	Total
Apache	228,368,904	36,942,187	2,467,080	267,778,171
Cochise	237,884,275	72,234,969	6,632,280	316,751,524
Coconino	409,160,953	169,203,551	18,711,360	597,075,864
Gila	218,853,533	87,695,516	6,258,480	312,807,529
Graham	142,730,565	30,505,950	2,338,920	175,575,435
Greenlee	0	5,722,703	523,320	6,246,023
La Paz	161,761,307	34,992,258	2,445,720	199,199,285
Maricopa	4,681,562,532	4,230,621,476	546,324,720	9,458,508,728
Mohave	532,860,776	229,270,174	19,565,760	781,696,710
Navajo	361,584,098	81,249,831	8,704,200	451,538,129
Pima	1,541,490,102	672,747,389	60,342,000	2,274,579,491
Pinal	570,922,260	281,309,447	24,179,520	876,411,227
Santa Cruz	66,607,597	10,149,247	1,783,560	78,540,404
Yavapai	608,983,744	279,750,607	24,179,520	912,913,871
Yuma	294,976,501	173,905,786	14,578,200	483,460,487
Totals	10,057,747,147	6,396,301,091	739,034,640	17,193,082,878

In 2020, Arizona saw 4,506 alcohol-related crashes. An “alcohol-related crash” is defined as a collision where the investigating officer indicated that a driver consumed alcoholic beverages. It should not be assumed that every driver involved in an alcohol-related crash was over the legal state BAC limit of .08. Of all Arizona counties, Maricopa had the most alcohol-related collisions, injuries, fatalities, and property damage incidents.

County	Alcohol-Related Crashes	Fatal Crashes	Injury Crashes	PDO Crashes	Victims Killed	Victims Injured
Apache	30	3	20	7	3	29
Cochise	30	2	10	18	2	11
Coconino	159	7	76	76	8	109
Gila	77	1	47	29	1	87
Graham	29	3	12	14	5	27
Greenlee	2	0	1	1	0	3
La Paz	27	3	12	12	4	20
Maricopa	2,834	74	1,115	1,645	81	1,730
Mohave	173	9	78	86	10	117
Navajo	66	7	29	30	7	42
Pima	578	43	242	293	48	350
Pinal	187	4	95	88	4	147
Santa Cruz	9	0	4	5	0	5
Yavapai	193	5	88	100	6	117
Yuma	112	2	45	65	2	69
Totals	4,506	163	1,874	2,469	181	2,863

Arizona DUI Crash Force Statistics, 2015-2020 (Holidays)

During the holiday season, there is frequently an unfortunate uptick in the number of drunk driving incidents, which increases the risk for everyone using Arizona roads. In 2019, 13.58% of the state’s 28,000 impaired driving arrests occurred on Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, or between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. To effectively combat impaired driving statewide, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) provided funding for overtime enforcement, enhanced training programs for officers, and equipment.

Arizona’s DUI enforcement program revolves around two key dimensions: 1) year-round DUI recognition and enforcement and 2) enhanced enforcement campaigns aligning with holidays and major state events. The overarching goal of the GOHS is to identify areas that are disproportionately impacted by alcohol-influenced injury and fatality collisions and devote appropriate resources to those regions. DUI Task Forces and local law enforcement agencies use sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols throughout the year, with a particular emphasis on holidays.

The result of Arizona’s strict enforcement of DUI laws during holidays is seen below. GOHS has not yet updated arrest statistics for Thanksgiving – New Year’s in 2020.

Arizona DUI Arrests By Holiday, 2020

Annual Arizona DUI Task Force Statistics, 2015-2019

Before dropping slightly in 2019, the number of law enforcement officers in Arizona grew steadily from 2015 through 2018. Likewise, the number of people contacted over an infraction or suspected illegal activity grew over that same four-year period, before decreasing in 2019. During the five-year span, a total of 138,481 statewide DUI arrests were made. Just over 25% of these arrests were for extreme DUI, where a driver had a BAC of 0.15 or greater.

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Number of Officers	54,075	64,234	74,624	82,818	82,361
Number of Contacts	1,054,247	1,133,840	1,291,989	1,426,651	1,330,198
Sober Drivers Contacted	12,760	9,060	15,723	19,789	34,243
Total DUI Arrests	27,799	26,082	27,683	28,094	28,823
Aggravated DUI	4,070	3,511	3,749	4,014	4,312
Misdemeanor DUI	23,729	22,571	23,934	24,080	24,511
Extreme DUI	7,380	7,135	6,765	7,197	6,847
Under 21 DUI	1,383	1,351	1,346	1,149	993
Average BAC	0.158	0.155	0.152	0.154	0.153
Seat Belt Citations	25,649	29,386	31,242	33,511	31,184
Child Restraint Citations	4,825	5,123	5,890	5,809	4,952
Underage Consumption	5,435	4,829	4,646	4,233	3,497
DUI Drug	5,692	5,030	7,040	6,680	7,287

How Much Does the Arizona Highway Safety Program Spend on Impaired Driving?

DUIs are not only dangerous to the driver and others on or near the roadway but can also necessitate millions of dollars in government spending. “Impaired driving” was by far the largest category of expenses for the Arizona Highway Safety Program in 2020. 43% of the state’s Highway Safety Program budget was allocated to this specific element of traffic safety, whereas School Bus Safety, Roadway Safety, Motorcycle Safety, and Emergency Services combined made up only 3.6%.

2020 Highway Safety Program Approved Costs