The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety sent out a couple of news releases Tuesday touting the fact that DUI task forces around the state made fewer arrests in connection to the Cinco de Mayo holiday. Specifically, police made 181 arrests over the weekend compared to 248 in 2007 and 209 in 2006.

The office’s deputy director, Michael Hegarty, said the lower numbers this year might demonstrate that fewer people are taking the risk to drink and drive. The numbers also fit the message that Gov. Janet Napolitano wants to send to justify her recent veto of a DUI bill that toughened some penalties but also would have reduced the requirement for first-time offenders to use ignition interlock devices on their vehicles from one year to six months.

But a more reasonable interpretation of these numbers is 2007 was an unusually high year for Cinco de Mayo arrests. This is supported by the fact that DUI task forces made many more traffic stops in 2007, 3,795 compared to 2,714 stops this year.

There needs to be another year or two of results before anyone can point to a real trend for DUI arrests connected to this Mexican holiday. This is especially true since the ignition interlock law has been in effect only since November.

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