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Alcohol Impaired Driving Laws By State

Picture of Andrew Darlington Andrew Darlington : October 21, 2024 at 5:37 PM

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Alcohol-Impaired Driving (DWI/DUI Laws by State

All states but Utah define driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or above 0.08% as a crime, and specific laws and penalties vary substantially from state to state. Effective December 30, 2018, Utah’s BAC is set at 0.05.%

All states have some type of ignition interlock program, in which judges require all or some convicted drunk drivers to install interlocks in their cars to disable the engine if alcohol is detected on their breath.

Please note that this summary represents the State Highway Safety Office members' interpretation of the law. Some groups may have a higher count.

Federal law mandates that states adopt open container and repeat offender laws meeting specific requirements. Otherwise, a portion of the state's surface transportation funding is transferred to the state DOT or State Highway Safety Office. 39 states, D.C. and 3 territories have open container laws which meet federal requirements. 33 states, D.C. and 3.

Links and Resources

Governors Highway Safety Association Alcohol Impaired Driving
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Drunk Driving webpage
NHTSA Digest of State Alcohol Highway Safety-Related Legislation
NHTSA Reports Sent to Congress

"territories" have repeat offender laws THAT meet federal requirements

Summary by the Numbers

44 states and the District of Columbia have increased penalties for drivers convicted at higher BACs (specific levels and penalties vary by state).
48 states and the District of Columbia have administrative license suspension (ALS) on the first offense. ALS allows law enforcement to confiscate a driver's license for a period of time if he fails a chemical test. Most of these states allow limited driving privileges (such as to/from work).
26 states(and four California counties) have made ignition interlocks mandatory or highly incentivized for all convicted drunk drivers, even first-time offenders. 11 states require them for repeat offenders, and 11 states for both high BAC and repeat offenders. The remaining
Two states make interlocks discretionary.

State	Inc. Penalty for High BAC	Admin. License Susp. on 1st Offense	Limited Driving Privileges	Ignition Interlocks	Open Container Laws*	Repeat Offender Laws*
Alabama	0.15	90 days		Mandatory for high BAC (0.15 and above) and repeat convictions; highly incentivized for first convictions	Yes	Yes
Alaska		90 days	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions	No	No
Arizona	0.15	90 days	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
Arkansas		6 months	Yes	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
California	0.15	4 months	After 30 days	Discretionary. Mandatory for all repeat and injury-involved offenses, first-time injury or vehicular manslaughter offenses.	Yes	No
Colorado	0.15	3 months	Yes	Mandatory for high BAC (0.15 and above) and repeat convictions, highly incentivized for first convictions	Yes	No
Connecticut		90 days	Yes	Highly incentivized for all convictions	No	Yes
Delaware	0.15	3 months	No	Highly incentivized for all convictions	No	Yes
D.C.	.20, .25 and .30	2-90 days or until deposition	Yes	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
Florida	0.2	· 6 months for DUI · 12 months for refusal	· After 30 days · After 90 days		Yes	Yes
Georgia	0.15	1 year	Yes	Mandatory for repeat convictions	Yes	Yes
Hawaii		3 months	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions	No	No
Idaho	0.2	90 days	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
Illinois	0.16	6 months	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions; highly incentivized for first convictions	Yes	Yes
Indiana	0.15	180 days	Available immediately	Mandatory for repeat convictions	Yes	No
Iowa	0.15	180 days	After 30 days	Highly incentivized for all convictions	Yes	Yes
Kansas	0.15	30 days		Highly incentivized for all convictions	Yes	Yes
Kentucky	0.15	30 - 120 days	Yes	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
Louisiana	.15 and .20			Mandatory for high BAC (0.20 and above) and repeat convictions; highly incentivized for first convictions	No	No
Maine	0.15	150 days	Yes	Highly incentivized for all convictions	Yes	Yes
Maryland	0.15	180 days for both .08 and .15	Yes, w/ interlock	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
Massachusetts	0.2	90 days	Yes	Mandatory for repeat convictions	Yes	Yes
Michigan	0.17	30-180 days	After 45 days	Mandatory for high BAC (0.17) and repeat convictions	Yes	Yes
Minnesota	0.16	90 days	After 15 days	Highly incentivized for high BAC (0.16) and repeat convictions	Yes	No
Mississippi		90 days		Mandatory for all convictions	No	Yes
Missouri	0.15	90 days	· After 0 days w/ interlock use (restricted) · After 30 days (restricted)	Mandatory for repeat convictions	No	Yes
Montana	0.16	6 months	Yes	Mandatory for repeat convictions	Yes	No
Nebraska	0.15	90 days	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
Nevada	0.18	90 days	After 45 days	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
New Hampshire	0.16	6 months		Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
New Jersey	0.1	3 months		Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
New Mexico	.16 (w/ mand. jail on all offenses)	· <21: 1 yr.; · >21: 6 mo.	Immediately w/ Ignition Interlock	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	No
New York	0.18	Yes	Yes	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	Yes
North Carolina	0.15	30 days	After 10 days	Mandatory for high BAC	Yes	Yes
North Carolina	0.15	30 days	After 10 days	(>.15) and repeat convictions	Yes	Yes
North Dakota	0.18	91 days	After 30 days	Discretionary	Yes	Yes
Ohio	0.17	90 days	After 15 days	Mandatory for repeat convictions	No	No
Oklahoma	0.15	180 days	Yes	Mandatory for high BAC (0.15 and above) and repeat convictions; highly incentivized for first convictions	Yes	Yes
Oregon	0.15	90 days	After 30 days	Mandatory for all convictions and diversions	Yes	No
Pennsylvania1	.10 and .16	None	Yes	Mandatory for high BAC (.10 or higher) and repeat convictions	Yes	Yes
Pennsylvania1	.10 and .16	None	Also uses Occupational Limited License (OLL)		Yes	Yes
Rhode Island	.10 and .15	30-180 days		Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	No
South Carolina	.10 and .16	1 month (for .15 or higher BAC)	Yes	Mandatory for both high BAC (.15 or higher) and repeat convictions	Yes	No
South Dakota	0.17	30 days	Yes	Discretionary	Yes	No
Tennessee	0.2	1 year	Yes	Mandatory for repeat convictions; highly incentivized for first convictions	No	Yes
Texas	0.15	· 90 days if .08 or greater; · 180 days for refusal	Yes	Mandatory for repeat convictions	Yes	Yes
Utah	0.16	120 days		Mandatory for repeat convictions; highly incentivized for first convictions	Yes	Yes
Vermont		90 days		Highly incentivized for all convictions	Yes	No
Virginia	.15 and .20	7 days		Mandatory for repeat convictions; highly incentivized for first convictions	No	Yes
Washington	0.15	90 days	With an ignition interlock driver’s license	Mandatory for all convictions	Yes	No
West Virginia	0.15	6 months	After 30 days	Mandatory for high BAC (.15 or higher) and repeat convictions	Yes	Yes
Wisconsin	.17, .20 and .25	6-9 months	Yes	Mandatory for high BAC (.15 or higher) and repeat convictions	Yes	Yes
Wyoming	0.15	90 days	Yes	Mandatory for high BAC (.15 or higher) and repeat convictions	No	No

*Meeting Federal Requirements

Source: Governors Highway Safety Association, https://www.ghsa.org/state-laws/issues/Alcohol-Impaired-Driving

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