A law that delayed Arizona’s cutoff for alcohol sales to 2 a.m. has shifted when many DUI arrests and alcohol-related crashes take place but has not increased their numbers, two state agencies say in new reports.

The reports by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control were obtained by The Associated Press on March 1.

The Arizona Legislature in 2004 passed legislation that allowed restaurants, bars and stores to sell alcohol one hour later, until 2 a.m. instead of 1 a.m. Also, patrons could continue consuming alcohol until 2:30 a.m., 75 minutes after the old limit of 1:15 a.m.

Supporters, including the Arizona Tourism Alliance and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, said the change would help generate more business for hotels and restaurants and could keep drunks off the road while movie-goers and others return home around 1 a.m.

Opponents, including Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, argued that longer drinking hours would increase drunken driving.

When signing the bill on April 13, Governor Napolitano ordered agencies to report to her six months after the change took effect Aug. 25.

Richard Fimbres, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, said comparisons of corresponding periods of 2003 before the change and 2004 after the change found that the peaks of both DUI arrests and alcohol-related crashes shifted roughly one hour later with the change, Mr. Fimbres said.

However, “it appears that the extended drinking hours have not led to any additional DUI arrests or alcohol-related crashes,’ Mr. Fimbres wrote.

Similarly, the Department of Liquor Licenses of Control’s director, Leesa Berens Morrison, said the change had “no significant impact’ on the number of complaints received, number of citations issued and the department’s own staffing.

Mr. Fimbres’ said his analysis was based on four months of data because of a two-month lag in crash reports.

However, he said he believes “that the final report will be consistent with these initial findings that the extended drinking hour’s law will not have increased the number of impaired drivers or alcohol-related crashes, but will have shifted the time of the majority of DUI arrests and alcohol-related crashes accordingly.’