Why Cut-Offs Matter
(Part of the “Drunk, Drunker, and High-Risk Drunkenness” series)
Three Truths of Cut-Offs
- Cutting off obviously intoxicated customers saves lives.
- Whether you’re a city official, employed in law enforcement, work for the ABC, a member of the hospitality industry, or someone who can influence these organizations—you have the power to significantly increase cut-offs of drunk customers.
- In other words: YOU can save lives.
Let that sink in.
Understanding Relative Crash Risk
It’s been eye-opening — and sometimes jaw-dropping — when I hear versions of this question in meetings with DUI task force members, police chiefs, mayors, or other city officials:
“Why are you so focused on cutting off people who are already drunk? Isn’t it already too late?”
As a person’s blood alcohol content (BAC) rises, the risk of harm to themselves and others rises exponentially.
The chart below illustrates the sharp increase in crash risk as a driver’s BAC climbs, compared to the baseline risk of a non-drinking driver.
Relative risk compares the likelihood of harm in an "exposed" group to that of a "non-exposed" group. In this case, the exposed group consists of drivers who have consumed varying amounts of alcohol; the non-exposed group are drivers who have not been drinking.
Let’s zoom in on the lower BAC levels:
At a BAC of .07%, a drinking driver is 2.1 times more likely to crash than a non-drinking driver.
A drinker who consumed enough alcohol to progress through the initial eight BAC levels (.00 to .07) is 2 times more likely to crash than before drinking. If that drinker isn’t cut off and continues to drink enough alcohol to progress through the next eight BAC levels (.08 to .15), the driver is now 22 times more likely to crash than before drinking.
High-Risk Intoxication is Often Deadly
When a death occurs in an alcohol-related crash, 70% of the time the driver’s BAC is .15% or higher—a level considered high-risk intoxication.
Alarmingly, about half of alcohol-related crashes involve drivers who had their last drink at an ABC-licensed business, according to "place-of-last-drink" studies.
How Cut-Offs Save Lives and City Resources
Cutting off obviously intoxicated customers can dramatically reduce deaths caused by impaired driving. The benefits go beyond reduced DUI tragedies:
- Reduced calls to first responders for disturbances and fights inside alcohol establishments, in surrounding neighborhoods, and where drunk customers arrive afterwards
- Fewer public safety issues caused by intoxicated individuals
It’s Sad, But True
Despite the tremendous benefits that cut-offs bring to everyone—customers, businesses, communities, and public safety—they rarely happen.
We’ll explore why in our next Insight.
INSIGHT RECAP
- Cutting off obviously intoxicated customers is critical because the risk of harm surges exponentially as intoxication rises.
- When a death occurs in an alcohol-involved vehicle crash, 70% of the time, a driver had a BAC of .15% or higher.
- Increasing cut-offs will reduce DUI tragedies, public harm, and police calls for service.
- YOU can take action to save lives.
Coming in This Series:
- Cut-offs and Reality
- How the ABC Can Influence Cut-offs
- How City Officials Can Influence Cut-offs at New Businesses
- How City Officials Can Influence Cut-offs at Existing Businesses
- How to Guide Businesses to Increase Cut-offs
- How Cut-offs Reduce Customer “Churn” (Turnover)
