Alcohol and the law — Utah Permit Test

A Utah driver over 0.05 blood alcohol content is in violation of the law, and the figure is 0.04 for a commercial driver.

Utah’s limit is the lowest in the country. A figure that is legal in the next state is an offense here.

If you are over 0.05 BAC (0.04 for CDL), you violate the law.

Driving in Utah is a violation if a driver is impaired to the degree that it is unsafe to operate a vehicle, even when they are under the legal limit.

The limit is a ceiling, not a permission. An officer who watches you drive badly does not need a number.

Utah law also states that driving is a violation if you are impaired to the degree that it is unsafe to operate a vehicle, even if you are under the legal limit.

A first DUI conviction for a Utah driver 21 and older suspends the driver license for 120 days, and a second or subsequent offense for two years.

Four months for the first one. The step up to two years is what a second conviction actually costs.

On the first conviction of a DUI for a driver 21 and older, the driver license will be suspended for 120 days and two years for a second or subsequent offense.

Utah law allows the division to begin a DUI suspension on the 45th to 60th day after the date of arrest.

The suspension does not start at the roadside. Knowing when it does is how a driver avoids driving into a second offense.

Utah’s law allows the division to suspend the license beginning on the 45th-60th day after the date of arrest.

A DUI plea held in abeyance does not appear on the driving record of an ordinary Utah driver, but it is still counted as a prior offense against later ones.

It stays off the record and still stacks. A second offense is treated as a second even though the first is invisible.

In addition, the abeyance will be considered a “prior offense” in combination with subsequent offenses.

A DUI plea held in abeyance disqualifies a Utah commercial driving privilege even though it does not suspend the ordinary one.

A commercial license is held to a stricter federal standard, so the same plea reaches it when it reaches nothing else.

Although a plea held in abeyance for the DUI violation will not result in suspension or revocation of your regular operator privilege, it will disqualify your CDL privilege.

At what blood alcohol content does a Utah driver violate the law?

Over 0.05. Utah’s limit is the lowest in the country. A figure that is legal in the next state is an offense here. Utah Driver Handbook 2026-2027, p.52: “If you are over 0.05 BAC (0.04 for CDL), you violate the law.”