DUI Basics
When Did Drinking and Driving Become Illegal?
When Did Drinking and Driving Become Illegal?
Drinking and driving became illegal in the United States in 1906, when New Jersey passed what the U.S. Supreme Court called perhaps the nation's first drunk driving law, and other states soon followed. Indiana set the first blood alcohol standard in 1939 at 0.15. Today every state makes it illegal to drive at a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or higher, except Utah, where the limit is 0.05.
Drinking and driving has been illegal in the United States for more than a century. The first state law dates to 1906, and what changed over the decades was how the law measured “drunk”: first by how you acted, then by a blood alcohol number that has dropped from 0.15 to 0.08.
You’ll see different “first” years quoted online, and some pages mix up drunk driving laws with the drinking age. The dates below come from the U.S. Supreme Court’s own history of DUI law in Birchfield v. North Dakota (2016), federal statutes and NHTSA crash data.
Drunk Driving Became Illegal in 1906
New Jersey passed what the Supreme Court called “perhaps the Nation’s first drunk-driving law” in 1906, and other states soon followed. That’s the honest answer to when drinking and driving became illegal: 1906, with other states close behind.
Those first laws banned driving while intoxicated, but they set no number. To convict you, a prosecutor needed witnesses who saw the signs: stumbling, slurred speech, poor balance. Whether you were “drunk” was a judgment call.
That’s still one of the two ways you can be charged today. Utah’s statute is a clear example: it covers driving at a set blood alcohol level, and separately driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs “to a degree that renders the actor incapable of safely operating a vehicle” (Utah Code § 41-6a-502).
When States Set the First Blood Alcohol Limit
Indiana passed the first law tying intoxication to a blood alcohol number in 1939. It used 0.15%, the level the American Medical Association and the National Safety Council had recommended after studying the problem in the 1930s (Supreme Court, Birchfield).
At first these numbers were presumptions: a reading of 0.15 let a court presume you were drunk, but you could argue otherwise. Other states copied the approach, lowered the presumption to 0.10, and later made 0.10 a “per se” offense. Per se means the test result alone is the crime, with no other proof of impairment needed. The blood alcohol limits guide explains how per se limits work in each state today.
Testing technology moved alongside the law. The Drunkometer, a balloon-and-chemical breath tester, was invented and first sold in the 1930s. The Breathalyzer came into common use in the 1950s.
Implied Consent Laws Arrived in 1953
New York passed the first implied consent law in 1953. It made agreeing to a blood alcohol test a condition of the privilege to drive, and you could lose your license for refusing. Many states followed soon after, and the Uniform Vehicle Code added the rule in 1962.
Every state has one now. The implied consent guide covers what refusing a breath or blood test costs you in each state, and several states, including North Dakota and Minnesota, went further and made refusing a test a crime.
How the Legal Limit Dropped to 0.08
The federal government never wrote a national DUI law. Instead, Congress used highway money to move the states:
| Year | Federal action | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | National minimum drinking age, 23 U.S.C. § 158 | Withholds highway funds from states that let anyone under 21 buy or publicly possess alcohol |
| 1998 | Grants under 23 U.S.C. § 163 | Paid states that made driving at 0.08 or above a per se offense |
| 2000 | Pub. L. 106-346, enacted October 23, 2000 | Withheld highway funds, starting in fiscal year 2004, from states without a 0.08 law |
| 2012 on | Current 23 U.S.C. § 163 | Withholds 6% of certain highway funds from any state without a 0.08 law |
The 0.08 standard is now universal. NHTSA reports that all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico make it illegal to drive at 0.08 or higher, and Utah went lower: its 0.05 limit took effect on December 30, 2018 (NHTSA, 2023 data).
Two more limits sit below the adult one. Operating a commercial vehicle at 0.04 or above violates federal rules, which the DUI with a CDL guide covers. Drivers under 21 face zero-tolerance limits set by each state, compared in the underage DUI guide.
The Drinking Age Is Not a Drunk Driving Law
The 1984 drinking age law often gets cited as the year drunk driving became illegal. It wasn’t. The law, codified at 23 U.S.C. § 158, says nothing about driving. It cuts highway funds for any state where someone under 21 may legally buy or publicly possess alcohol.
It mattered for road safety, but driving drunk had already been a crime in state law for roughly 80 years by then.
What Changed From the 1980s on
States toughened DUI laws sharply from the 1980s on, and deaths fell. In the early 1980s, alcohol-related traffic deaths averaged 25,000 a year. By 2014 the number was below 10,000, according to the figures the Supreme Court cited.
The newer laws added:
- Higher penalties for high readings. Many states now punish a reading well above the limit more harshly. In North Dakota, a first offense at 0.16 or above carries at least two days in jail.
- Tougher repeat-offense rules. States raised mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offenders, and the felony DUI guide shows where a repeat offense becomes a felony.
- Criminal refusal laws. Some states made refusing the test its own crime. In 2016 the Supreme Court held that police may require a breath test after a DUI arrest without a warrant, but not a blood test, and that a state can’t criminally punish you for refusing a warrantless blood test.
If you were just arrested, those changes affect you directly, and the clock on your license often starts right away. The DUI deadline calculator shows how long your state gives you to request a license hearing, and the first DUI guide covers what a first charge carries across the states.
Which States Have the Most Drunk Driving Deaths
Texas had the most alcohol-impaired driving deaths in 2023, NHTSA reports, with 1,699. Nationally, 12,429 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes that year, one every 42 minutes and 30% of all traffic deaths.
| Measure, 2023 | State | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Most alcohol-impaired driving deaths | Texas | 1,699 |
| Second most | California | 1,355 |
| Third most | Florida | 839 |
| Fewest deaths | District of Columbia | 14 |
| Highest share of all traffic deaths | Hawaii | 42% |
| Lowest share of all traffic deaths | Mississippi and Utah | 21% |
Raw counts favor the most populous states. The share column is a better read on how much drunk driving drives each state’s road deaths. Nationally, alcohol-impaired deaths fell 7.6% from 2022, when 13,458 people died.
DUI Law Today Depends on Your State
The basic rule has held since 1906: you can’t drive drunk. Nearly everything else is set state by state, including the name of the charge (DUI, DWI, OWI), the penalties, the license suspension, interlock rules and how long the record lasts.
To see the rules where you were stopped, start with DUI laws by state, which links each state’s penalties, license and refusal pages. Questions about your own case belong with a lawyer licensed in your state, your state bar’s lawyer referral service or the public defender’s office.
Frequently Asked Questions
Could You Drink and Drive in the 1970s?
No. Driving while intoxicated had been a crime since the early 1900s, and implied consent testing laws had spread after New York's in 1953. What differed was the limit: states used presumptions of 0.15 and later 0.10, not today's 0.08, and penalties were lighter than the laws states passed from the 1980s on.
What Was the First Drunk Driving Law in the U.S.?
New Jersey's 1906 law, which the Supreme Court described in 2016 as perhaps the nation's first. It made driving while intoxicated illegal but set no number, so prosecutors had to prove outward signs like slurred speech or poor balance.
Can You Legally Drive After Two Beers?
No law sets a number of drinks. The law sets a blood alcohol limit, 0.08 in most states and 0.05 in Utah, and every state also lets you be charged for driving impaired below it. Commercial drivers face 0.04, and the under-21 limits are lower still.
What State Has the Most Drunk Driving Deaths?
Texas, with 1,699 alcohol-impaired driving deaths in 2023, followed by California (1,355) and Florida (839), according to NHTSA. As a share of all traffic deaths, Hawaii ranked highest at 42 percent.
When Did the Legal Limit Become 0.08 Everywhere?
Congress offered grants for 0.08 laws in 1998, then in October 2000 passed a law that withheld highway funds, beginning in fiscal year 2004, from states without one. Every state now has a 0.08 limit or lower.
Guides on This Topic
This post explains DUI law in plain language from official sources. It isn't legal advice; laws differ by state and change, and a lawyer licensed in your state can advise on your case.