BACtrack and Colorado DOT Partner to Reduce Drunk Driving in Colorado for the Fifth Consecutive Year

Our partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) continues to make breathalyzers more accessible to Coloradans, educate them about blood alcohol content (BAC) levels, and ultimately reduce impaired driving.

BACtrack and CDOT’s partnership, now in its fifth year, is the first of its kind in the country between a state department of transportation and a breathalyzer company. The impetus for the partnership is the more than 20,000 people arrested each year for DUI in Colorado - that's about 60 DUIs per day. Additionally, about a third of all traffic fatalities in Colorado involve an impaired driver.

While the campaign serves to raise awareness about using a personal breathalyzer as a reliable DUI-prevention tool, this year's Take Your Time campaign has another goal: to educate people about the time it takes for a person's BAC to return to zero after drinking. And BACtrack makes this easier than ever with its proprietary ZeroLine® technology.

With each BAC result, a user can learn their ZeroLine, the estimated time it will take for the alcohol to be eliminated from their system – information that was never easily accessible. A user's ZeroLine is expressed in hours and minutes and also includes a description of the user's intoxication level. 

Three BACtracks include the ZeroLine feature. The BACtrack C8 displays a user's ZeroLine directly on the device display and is the first and only stand-alone breathalyzer with this feature. BACtrack Mobile and the BACtrack C6 display a user's ZeroLine on the BACtrack app; the BACtrack C8 also displays a user's ZeroLine BACtrack app.

Statewide Ad Campaign

CDOT’s 2020 Take Your Time advertising campaign officially launches today and will run through mid-September. The campaign seeks to raise awareness of personal breathalyzers as tools to reduce impaired driving and DUIs and encourages those who drink to "breathalyze before you drive." The campaign also focuses on educating people about the amount of time it takes for alcohol to be eliminated from the body.

The campaign ads exclusively feature the BACtrack C8, which is the only breathalyzer on the market to provide a user with the estimated time their BAC will return to 0.00% based on their current BAC result right on the device display. This is BACtrack’s patented ZeroLine® feature and it is also available via the BACtrack app.  

Campaign ads are visible on billboards and wallscapes in the Denver metro area, liquor store posters statewide, and featured in online, social media, and radio ads.

Past BACtrack-CDOT Campaigns and Research Programs

The 2020 campaign builds on BACtrack and CDOT’s continued partnership.

In 2019, the Do One Smart Thing campaign aimed to encourage Coloradans to drive sober and sought to both encourage and normalize breathalyzer use in Colorado. The campaign included the first-ever Breathalyzer Brunch to demonstrate the benefits of using a BACtrack and show how easy it is to integrate it into one’s normal drinking routine. Read more.

In 2018, CDOT and BACtrack's Colorado Blows Before Driving campaign offered discounts on breathalyzers exclusively to Colorado residents resulting in sales of nearly 3,000 BACtracks. Additionally, in partnership with Responsibility.org, 200 units were distributed at no cost to Coloradans ages 21 to 34, encouraging breathalyzer use among young adults. Read more.

In 2017, CDOT and BACtrack partnered again on a similar program — this time recruiting first-time DUI offenders, offering them a free BACtrack in exchange for feedback on how the device impacted their decisions relating to drinking and driving. Following the program, 94 percent of participants agreed that everyone who regularly drinks should own a personal breathalyzer. Read more.

In 2016, CDOT recruited 225 Coloradans to use a BACtrack and complete surveys about their drinking habits. At the end of the program, 84 percent of participants agreed that owning a smartphone breathalyzer lowered their risk for a DUI or DWAI. Read more.