We hear the term "buzzed driving" a lot, but is it the same as drunk driving?
We talked with Personal Injury Attorney Craig Swapp who says in Utah driving over the legal blood limit (now .05%) is not only illegal, but also very dangerous.
He explained while people do not want to risk a DUI citation or worse, many drivers consume less alcohol.
However, what they don't realize is they are still driving under the influence even if their blood alcohol level is under the legal limit.
For most states, whenever a driver's blood alcohol content is above .01% police still consider this "buzzed driving."
The best thing to do is get a Lyft, Uber or have a designated driver if you're planning to celebrate Memorial Day weekend with a drink.
We also talked with Swapp about impaired driving, that's when a driver is under the influence of prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and illegal/ legal recreation drugs such as marijuana.
Currently, nine states have legalized recreational marijuana, which only compounds the "impaired driving" problem in those and surrounding states.
Here locally, Swapp says we have to consider that three states that surround Utah (Nevada, Colorado and Arizona) have legalized either recreational or medical marijuana, and often impaired drivers from those states cross over the state-line into Utah, which poses a greater risk for our drivers.
If you have questions or have been in a buzzed, DUI or impaired driving crash, you can call Craig Swapp & Associates to chat at no cost to you. You can reach them at 800-404-9000 or visit them online at craigswapp.com.
