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UHP makes 20 DUI arrests on St. Patrick’s Day. That’s 4 more than in 2018, 18 less than in 2017.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Kelley Jensen, makes a traffic stop on I-15, during the Highway Patrol DUI blitz on New Year's Eve. UHP conducted another DUI blitz on St. Patrick's Day.

  | March 18, 2019, 2:27 p.m.
| Updated: 10:15 p.m.

The Utah Highway Patrol made 20 DUI arrests on the first St. Patrick’s Day since the state’s legal limit on blood alcohol content was lowered to .05 on Dec. 30.

That’s up 20 percent from 16 DUI arrests on St. Patrick’s Day 2018, but down 47 percent from 38 arrests on March 17, 2017, when the legal limit was .08.

During its “DUI blitz” on Saturday and Sunday, UHP added 75 evening shifts to target impaired drivers. Officers made 22 arrests on Saturday for a weekend total of 42.