Photo courtesy of Ofc. Pete Steen, BHP/AST

Alaska Drug Evaluation and Classification Program
The Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC)/Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) program is an international program intended to equip law enforcement officers with the knowledge and skills required to distinguish between impairment caused by drugs other than alcohol and impairment caused by other reasons. Furthermore, through a process of standardized and systematic observations and measurements, the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) can classify the drug impairment as being characteristic of one or more classes of drugs.

Alaska State Troopers make a DUI Arrest. Photo courtesy of the Alaska State Troopers.

DUI Information & Impaired Driving

Sections on:
DUI Driver Information
and
Impaired Driving Program

• Drink. Drive. Go to Jail
• ASTEP (Alaska Strategic Traffic Enforcement Partnership)

Changing old child protection seats for new at the 1st AK Child Passenger Safety Conference in Anchorage, celebrating Booster Seat Awareness Week, 2008. Photo by Gordon Glaser.

Occupant Protection
Information on correct seat belt use, agencies involved with protection of occupants and children in auto crashes, and answers to questions about seat belts in school busses.

Safety Corridors
A designated Safety Corridor is a segment of a state highway that has been identified as having a higher than average incidence of fatal and serious injury crashes, and the Commissioners of Transportation & Public Facilities and Public Safety have agreed to provide funding for effective education, enforcement, engineers, and support emergency response agencies for those sections of road.

Colony High School Students pose at the Muir Woods
National Monument. Photo Courtesy of Colony High School.

Teen Driving in Alaska
Every year teens account for approximately 20% of the fatalities and major injuries that occur on Alaska's roads and highways. Nearly half of these deaths can usually be prevented by simply buckling-up or not drinking and driving. Information for teens and parents on driving safely.

A teen driver applies make-up and talks while driving

Distracted Driving
States Increasing Efforts on Distracted Driving. Distracted driving has emerged as a priority for state highway safety agencies. Twenty-seven states, D.C., and Guam indicated that distracted driving is included in their Strategic Highway Safety Plans (SHSPs).

Photo courtesy of the Alaska State Troopers.

Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
Since 1975, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has operated and maintained the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). FARS is a national data collection system that contains information on all known motor vehicle traffic crashes in which there was at least one fatality.

A man poses for a NHTSA driving ad

Senior Driving in Alaska
Everyone ages differently and where some people are perfectly capable of continuing to drive in their seventies, eighties, and even beyond; many elders, however, are at higher risk for on or off road crashes. According to studies conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) senior drivers are more likely to receive traffic citations for failing to yield, turning improperly, and running red lights and stop signs - an indication of decreased driving ability.

Scanning a Driver's License to auto-populate to a computer form. Photo courtesy of the Alaska State Troopers.

Traffic Records Program
Goals:

• To improve motor vehicle crash data in order to reduce crashes and injuries on Alaska's roadways.

• Ensure that complete, accurate and timely traffic safety data are collected, analyzed and made available for decision-making at the national, state and local levels to reduce crashes, deaths and injuries on our nation’s roadways.