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Utah’s impaired-driving law is pretty straightforward.

• It’s against the law to drive under the influence of alcohol.

• You are considered legally drunk when you are in physical control of a vehicle and have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher.

• You can’t drink any alcoholic beverage while driving or as a passenger in a motor vehicle at any time. And you can’t carry an open container of alcohol in the passenger compartment of a vehicle.

But many drivers might ask how many drinks it takes to be impaired. This, of course, varies by the individual and can be affected by age, gender, physical condition, food consumed and medication. Also, different mixed drinks contain different amounts of alcohol.

But, for the average person, there is some impairment after one-half to two drinks. As few as three of the right kinds of drinks can raise the blood alcohol level to 0.08 percent. In that case, the average risk of a crash is 10 times more than normal for adult and 70 to 80 times normal for someone under 21.

Costs of getting a DUI can be severe.
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SALT LAKE CITY – Republican House Speaker David Clark said he was unaware of Kevin Garns DUI arrest until Fox 13 called for comment. Clark says the House would never condone any illegal or unethical acts. During the 2010 session, Kevin Garn was on the House Ethics Committee. Garn was arrested for DUI two months after filing to be a candidate in 2006. It happened just days before he earned his party’s nomination at the 2006 State Convention.

The Davis County GOP Vice Chair, Wade Farraway says vetting candidates is up to delegates who hold cottage meetings and Q and A sessions.

“Maybe one of the questions needs to be is there anything in your criminal past or in your history that needs to be disclosed. And i think that might be asked now in some of these meetings,” says Farraway.

Caucuses will be held statewide Tuesday night. Davis County will pick its delegates who will have the responsibility to narrow down 5 candidates who want to replace Kevin Garn.

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Davis County residents who drink and drive might face more than just fines and jail time.

Those with two or more convictions could see their mug shots and blood-alcohol levels posted on an online “DUI offender registry.”

At least that’s what the coalition Davis Helps is considering.

With the rising trend in alcohol-related crashes and more than 1,700 arrests in the county last year, this database would create “a social stigma against Davis County residents who repeatedly drink and drive,” according to a statement from the anti-drunken-driving organization.

The online database is still a preliminary concept. “We haven’t decided where this is going to go,” said Davis Helps prevention coordinator Brandon Hatch. The group’s primary focus, he said, is a campaign to be unveiled Thursday to help people recognize drunken driving and encourage them to immediately report it to 911.

As far as a registry goes, he said, Davis Helps is still studying how effective such registries have been in three other states: Arizona, New Mexico and North Carolina.

According to University of Utah criminal law professor Daniel Medwed, “Registries and shaming punishments are becoming increasingly popular across the nation, but it’s unclear whether or not they have the deterring effect.”

Medwed also raised concerns that stigmatizing DUI offenders could only marginalize them more and feed into the drinking and driving problem.

Though the other states have reported success in using the registries to deter drunk driving — Arizona even had a billboard campaign with mug shots — Hatch said Davis Helps wants to study the data.

There also are other questions to posting that information online, acknowledges Hatch. “Is someone who has multiple convictions of DUI … something we want to expose or put on the same level as a sex offender?”

Salt Lake City civil-rights attorney Brian Barnard doesn’t think registries of child molesters and drunken drivers accomplish the same goals.

There’s an argument, albeit questionable, Barnard said, that a sex-offender list can alert a neighbor into knowing someone shouldn’t be left alone with an individual — “that makes sense, maybe. But is there a similar benefit in publicly telling everyone so-and-so has a DUI?”

As with other crimes, DUI charges and convictions are public records, but Barnard said there could be constitutional challenges to a DUI registry.

Legality aside, Barnard questions whether an online database is the best way of preventing drunken driving, something that already is considered socially unacceptable.

Publicly shaming people doesn’t address the underlying problems they need to resolve to stop drinking and driving, he said.

And one recurring theme is the difference between what people know and do, said Susannah Burt, program manager for the state Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.

“People are aware that it’s not OK to drink and drive, but they’re still doing it anyway.”

Burt’s office disseminated the grants that helped create Davis Helps and 12 other organizations across the state. Those organizations, depending on their individual community needs, can either address alcohol-related crashes or prescription-drug deaths.

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Instead of toasting the new law doing away with Utah’s private clubs, Senate President Michael Waddoups said Utahns should be celebrating new, tougher penalties for drunken driving.

The bill eliminating the applications and fees now required to drink at Utah’s equivalent of a bar was signed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. at a crowded ceremony held in a downtown private club. But no such events were held when the governor signed bills requiring vehicle forfeiture and longer loss of drivers’ licenses for drinkers who get behind the wheel, Waddoups said.

“I haven’t heard a single person talk about taking away drivers’ licenses or confiscating cars,” the Taylorsville Republican said. “People ought to know that. That’s important.” Waddoups said he wasn’t invited to the signing of SB187, the bill doing away with private club membership requirements and the so-called “Zion curtain” glass barriers separating restaurant customers from liquor service.

Still, he said he might have gone anyway had Huntsman also highlighted the other bills in the liquor reform package. Under HB15, drunken drivers can lose their vehicles, while SB272 increases the length of time their drivers’ licenses are suspended. Underage drinkers who drive can lose their licenses until they are 21.

Instead of toasting the new law doing away with the state’s private clubs, Senate President Michael Waddoups said Utahns should be celebrating new, tougher penalties for drunken driving.

The bill eliminating the applications and fees now required to drink at Utah’s equivalent of a bar was signed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. at a crowded ceremony held in a downtown private club. But no such events were held when the governor signed bills requiring vehicle forfeiture and longer loss of drivers’ licenses for drinkers who get behind the wheel, Waddoups said.

“I haven’t heard a single person talk about taking away drivers’ licenses or confiscating cars,” the Taylorsville Republican said. “People ought to know that. That’s important.” Waddoups said he wasn’t invited to the signing of SB187, the bill doing away with private club membership requirements and the so-called “Zion curtain” glass barriers separating restaurant customers from liquor service.
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