Shortly before the Christmas holidays, Anchorage law enforcement officials challenged the community to refrain from drinking and driving. To bring awareness to their campaign, police erected a Christmas tree and said they’d add a blue-ribbon ornament to the tree for each charge of impaired driving.

How’d it go?

Not so good. In fact, it didn’t take long for the tree to become filled with blue ribbons.

The problem was (and is) so bad, officials ran out of blue ribbon and had to switch over to plaid.

Impaired Driving in Alaska Continues to Rise

Just recently, we shared the news that Alaska has the sixth-highest arrest rate for DUI (driving under the influence) in the country. That stunning report revealed that for every 100,000 Alaska residents, there were nearly 420 arrests for impaired driving.

That news corresponds with a report from Alaska Highway News that found impaired driving charges along the highway jumped 23 percent from last year to nearly 360 arrests.

Law enforcement officials claim that the increase in charges isn’t necessarily because of more people driving impaired. Rather, he claims arrests are up because law enforcement is being more vigilant about cracking down on impaired driving.

What You Can Recover if You’ve Been Injured by an Impaired Driver

It’s not just boozed-up drivers you need to be aware of. There’s been a noticeable uptick in the number of people driving while under the influence of drugs, like marijuana and opioids.

If you’re injured by an impaired driver, it can be a nightmarish scenario. Beyond bodily injury, you could be without a way to earn a living and have to experience ongoing medical treatments.

Working with an Alaska personal injury lawyer, you could recover all of your out of pocket expenses – and then some.

• Medical expenses. In addition to receiving compensation for doctor bills you’ve already had to pay, you could also secure payment for future treatments and ongoing therapy.
• Lost wages. If you’ve been unable to resume your normal work routine, you could recover any lost compensation. This can include the time you’ve had to take office for doctor’s office visits, etc.
• Diminished ability to earn a living. It doesn’t take much in the way of bodily injuries to impact your ability to earn a living. If your means of putting food on the table have been diminished, you could recover damages to compensate you.
• Property damage. This can include costs to repair or replace your vehicle or other personal property impacted by the accident.
• Loss of consortium. If you lost your spouse or a loved one because of the accident, you could seek damages through a wrongful death lawsuit.

If you’ve been injured by an impaired driver, call the Alaska personal injury lawyers with Barber & Associates.

We hope you never have to use our services, but if you do, there’s no one more vigilant and aggressive in securing the justice and compensation you deserve.

For a free consultation, call us at 800-478-5858. You can also reach us via email or by completing our online contact form.