Utah DUI Laws

Utah Code §41-6a-502(1)(c) sets the per se BAC limit at 0.05 grams or greater for drivers 21 and older — the lowest figure in the United States. The 0.05 threshold took effect on December 30, 2018, after the Utah Legislature passed HB 155 in 2017 to implement a National Transportation Safety Board recommendation. The 0.05 number applies only to the §41-6a-502 per se charge; Utah can separately charge impairment-based DUI at any BAC if the prosecution proves the driver was actually under the influence.

The Utah Driver License Division can suspend your privilege to drive in Utah under §53-3-223 regardless of where your license was issued — the 120-day administrative per-se suspension, and any conviction-track revocation under §41-6a-509, attach to your driving privilege in Utah, not to the physical out-of-state license. The DLD reports the Utah DUI conviction to your home state's licensing agency, which then decides what reciprocal action to take under its own laws. Utah's implied-consent obligation under §41-6a-520 applies the moment you operate a vehicle on a Utah road, so refusal to test triggers the same 18-month license revocation that would apply to a Utah resident.

Utah Code §41-6a-520 establishes implied consent — by driving on a Utah road you are treated as having consented to chemical testing when lawfully arrested for DUI. Refusing triggers a separate administrative license revocation under §41-6a-521: 18 months for a first refusal, and 36 months if you have a prior refusal or a §41-6a-502 conviction within 10 years. The refusal is admissible at your DUI trial as evidence against you under §41-6a-524, and you become an interlock-restricted driver under §41-6a-518.2(2)(b)(ii) for a uniform 2 years following reinstatement — the 2-year IRD length is fixed regardless of whether your refusal revocation is 18 or 36 months. The refusal track runs independently of any license action from the underlying DUI. The modal warrantless refusal is not itself a separate criminal charge, but §41-6a-520.1 creates a standalone criminal-refusal offense when the officer has first obtained a warrant and the driver still refuses.

Utah runs two parallel license-action tracks. The Driver License Division's administrative per-se suspension under §53-3-223 takes effect automatically — 120 days for a first DUI arrest (21 and older), and 2 years for a second qualifying arrest within 10 years — unless you request a hearing within 10 days. The court-ordered revocation under §41-6a-509(1)(a) applies on conviction: 120 days for a first DUI for drivers 21 and older, 2 years for any driver with a prior conviction within 10 years (covering both the second-offense class A misdemeanor and the third-offense felony tiers). The two tracks overlap in time rather than stack. If you refused testing, the §41-6a-521 refusal revocation (18 or 36 months) is separate and runs on its own schedule.

A Utah DUI is charged as a third-degree felony under §41-6a-502(2)(c) when the driver has two or more prior DUI convictions within the 10-year lookback, or at any time after any prior felony DUI conviction regardless of date. Injury and death create a separate felony path: §76-5-102.1 makes it a third-degree felony to operate a vehicle negligently while DUI and cause serious bodily injury, and §76-5-207 makes automobile homicide (causing death while DUI) a second-degree felony. Both injury paths apply on a first offense without any priors, so felony exposure does not require a third DUI when someone was hurt or killed.

Yes — Utah has two overlapping interlock regimes. Section §41-6a-518(2)(a) requires the court to order an interlock as a condition of probation on any §41-6a-502 conviction unless the court states on the record that it is not necessary; that on-record opt-out disappears entirely on a second or subsequent offense under §41-6a-518(2)(c). Separately, §41-6a-518.2 gives any driver convicted of an alcohol-related §41-6a-502 offense automatic interlock-restricted-driver status after license reinstatement: 18 months for a first offense, 2 years with a prior within 10 years, and 3 years for a felony DUI. The IRD status has no court opt-out and is the reason a first-offense DUI in Utah effectively requires an interlock even when the court declines the probation order.

No — Utah Code §53-3-231 applies a "not a drop" rule to any driver under 21, prohibiting operating a motor vehicle with any measurable alcohol in the body. §41-6a-529(1)(f) classifies drivers under 21 as "alcohol restricted drivers" as a matter of traffic-code definition, and §41-6a-530 imposes the operative prohibition on those classified drivers — they may not operate a vehicle with any measurable or detectable amount of alcohol in the body. Administrative license action at any detectable BAC is handled by the Driver License Division separately from any §41-6a-502 criminal charge — which still applies to under-21 drivers at 0.05 or above, on top of the zero-tolerance consequence.