(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) – The Alaska State Troopers and Alaska Wildlife Troopers have been decking the highways with lights and sirens (falalalala la la la la) over the past two weeks. The high visibility enforcement effort, which started Dec. 10 and lasts until Jan. 4, 2015, is to ensure the safety of Alaskans while they participate in holiday celebrations.

For the first half of this effort (Dec. 10 to Dec. 23), troopers have:

– Arrested 37 drivers for driving under the influence with two of them being felony offenses.

– Charged 42 drivers with driving with a suspended or revoked license.
– Received 248 REDDI reports with 26 drivers contacted that were ultimately determined not to be DUI.
– Investigated 83 damage only crashes, 14 injury crashes and no fatal collisions.
– Of the 874 citations issued by Troopers, 346 were for speeding and 37 were for seatbelt or other occupant restraint violations.

The Department of Public Safety realizes that alcohol is a part of many festivities this time of year. If you plan on partaking, don’t be a red-nosed driver. Please have a plan in place to not drive impaired. The “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign is done annually around the holidays to encourage the motoring public to keep safety in mind and to keep this time of year from turning tragic. The focused enforcement by troopers over the holiday is intended to prevent major injury and fatality crashes through enhanced enforcement. While the troopers are out to curb DUIs, they will also be on the lookout for additional driver behaviors that often contribute to fatal crashes, such as speeding and driving too fast for conditions.

Please do your part in keeping our roadways safe by not driving impaired. Additionally, don’t hesitate to make a REDDI report by calling 911! (Report Every Dangerous Driver Immediately).

Funding for the High Visibility Enforcement Campaign is funded by grants distributed by the Alaska Highway Safety Office.

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