421 Arrested for DUI over Super Bowl Weekend

And according to preliminary reports there was one alcohol-related fatality in the state during this year’s enforcement period, which ran from Friday, Feb. 1 to Monday, Feb. 4.

For the first time, Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Colorado State Patrol (CSP) authorized all local law enforcement agencies to participate in the enforcement rather than just the agencies in the Denver metro, Front Range and Mesa County areas and attribute the rise in arrests to this heightened enforcement.

“It’s clear that there is much more work to be done to educate Coloradans on drinking and driving,” said Darrell Lingk, Director of Transportation Safety. “Even though we urged people to plan ahead, at least 421 people put both themselves and others in danger when they made the decision to drive under the influence. Now they are facing fines and costs totaling $10,270.”

More than 100 law enforcement agencies across the state arrested 421 drivers suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs; 138 of those arrests took place on Super Bowl Sunday. The highest number of arrests over the three-day enforcement period took place in Denver (54), Aurora (32) and Colorado Springs (28). The numbers are up considerably when compared with 2012 when 275 arrests were made. There were 303 DUI arrests during the 2011 Super Bowl enforcement period.

Coloradans can expect even tougher DUI enforcement during the next enforcement period over St. Patrick’s Day weekend. The next Heat is On DUI crackdown begins Friday, March 15 and lasts through Monday, March 18.

More details about the DUI enforcement plans and arrest results can be found atHeatIsOnColorado.com. For more information about CDOT, visit www.coloradodot.info,www.facebook.com/coloradodot or follow us on Twitter @coloradodot.