Scores of people brought the new year in behind bars after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Colorado State Patrol reported Friday.
Two-hundred-seventy-two people were arrested between Dec. 30 and Tuesday, Jan. 3, as part of the state's "The Heat Is On New Year's Eve DUI" enforcement campaign. The arrest total includes 17 people arrested by the Denver Police Department, according to CSP.
A recent Denverite chart of the week highlights how New Year's weekend typically doesn't produce the largest number of drinking and driving arrests when compared to other holiday weekends.
Statewide, the total arrest number was down 31 percent or 124 arrests from new year's weekend last year. Fatal crashes involving impaired drivers were up in 2016 — 197 people were killed last year compared to 182 in 2015, according to preliminary data from the Colorado Department of Transportation.
There was one alcohol-related fatality during the most recent enforcement period, according to the data.
"Impaired drivers are a significant obstacle in our effort to achieve zero traffic deaths," said Darrell Lingk, director of the Office of Transportation Safety at CDOT, in a statement. "We will continue to pursue effective means to ensure people are not driving impaired in 2017, and that will include several DUI enforcement periods."
