DUI arrests steady for Arizonans on Thanksgiving weekend

Arizona’s Governor’s Office of Highway Safety released a report on Monday for statewide DUI enforcement for Thanksgiving on Monday.

Alberto Gutier, who serves as the office’s director, noted that the office compiles statistics for every four days surrounding Thanksgiving, including Nov. 23 to 26 this year. The office also tracks statistics for other holidays which are likely to see an increased number of people driving under the influence, Gutier said.

Gutier praised Arizona’s implementation of saturation patrols as an alternative to DUI checkpoints. According to the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, saturation patrols are an increased number of officers patrolling a specific area to look for impaired driving behavior, especially at times and in locations where impaired driving is more common.

According to the Office of Highway Safety, participating officers conducted 8,957 traffic stops over Thanksgiving weekend which is more than the 8,513 conducted last year, but less than the 9,407 in 2020. The total of DUI arrests also steadily decreased from 358 in 2020 to 350 in 2021 and 323 this year.

The numbers also showed that the number of DUI drug arrests fell from 97 in 2021 to 82 this year, and the number of seat belt citations decreased dramatically from 347 in 2020, to 211 in 2021 to just 145 this past holiday.