DUI Vs. DWI – A Brief History

Q: I hear people some people say DUI and some people say DWI. What’s the difference? Are they two different crimes or is it just two different ways of saying the same thing?

A: If you’re older than a millennial I bet you’ve found yourself puzzled by the perpetual shortening of common words. Hearing “totes cray” just sounds totally crazy. But this sort of thing has been going on for decades (or centuries; Chaucer was doing this in the 1300s). For example, back when the GenX crowd talked about DWI, in an effort to save three syllables we pronounced it DeeWee.

Besides pronunciation, is there a difference between DUI and DWI? I’ll start with the incomplete answer: they’re probably the same thing, unless you’re in Texas. Given that alcohol has been around far longer than cars, it’s pretty safe to assume that driving under the influence has been around about as long as driving. To get a more complete answer, let’s take a quick exploration into the history of impaired driving.

 In 1897 London taxi driver George Smith claimed the ignoble title of first person arrested for impaired driving. In the US, impaired driving was first made illegal in New Jersey in 1906 or New York in 1910, depending on which source you trust. As far as I can tell, impaired driving was criminalized in Washington at some point between 1919 and 1923. The 1923 session law states that drivers arrested for impaired driving would lose their license for at least three months for a first offense and for two years for a second offence. (That part of DUI law hasn’t changed in 100 years.) However, the law leaves out the details of what constitutes driving while intoxicated and instead refers to Pierce’s Code, an early book of laws for Washington. I was only able to find Pierce’s Code for 1919, and that issue did not yet have laws about impaired driving. Since then the laws, and the terms to describe the laws, have adapted and changed.

Here’s a piece of legal trivia: Between 1986 and 1987 Washington legislators rewrote our laws to be gender neutral. To quote the DWI law from 1986: “A person is guilty . . . if he drives a vehicle . . .” And here’s the same line in 1987: “A person is guilty . . . if the person drives a vehicle . . .” I think it’s okay to recognize the importance of gender inclusivity and at the same time acknowledge that this law was mostly accurate without any changes; three out of four impaired drivers are men.  

Somewhere around 1993 our state shifted from DWI to DUI. I recall that there was a good reason why we made the change in terminology, and if I could time travel back to 1993 I’d explain it to you, but in answer to your original question, there is no practical difference between DUI and DWI in Washington.

During the 1990s there was a nationwide push, based on sound research of impairment, to lower the per se blood alcohol content (BAC) limit from .10 to .08 grams per deciliter. Washington made the shift in 1998. By 2004 every state had a .08 limit. In 2018 Utah became the first state to lower their per se limit to a .05 BAC. Utah was also the first to go from .10 to .08 in 1983. I expect that once again Utah is leading the way in DUI legislation and many states will soon follow.

Even though I’ve primarily been discussing changes to the law related to alcohol, I should point out that since at least 1931 drugs have been included in our impaired driving laws. As more states legalize cannabis the drug portion of the DUI law has seen more attention, but the criminal aspect of driving while impaired by drugs has been there all along.

Nationally, DWI and DUI are not always the same. In Texas, minors who drive with any alcohol in their system are charged with DUI, while any drivers with visible impairment or a blood alcohol level of above a .08 are charged with DWI. To confuse things more, in Maryland it’s the reverse; DWIs are for minors and DUIs are for adults. Several other states have variations that include both DUI and DWI. As long as we’re getting complicated, depending on the state, an impaired driver could be arrested for Driving While Ability Impaired (DWAI), Operating Under the Influence (OUI) or Operating While Intoxicated (OWI).

As a driver though, it’s pretty simple. No matter what it’s called, in every state it’s illegal to drive impaired.