Are fewer people driving drunk in the Mat-Su?

MAT-SU -- Drunken-driving arrests in Mat-Su are down by 43 percent, compared to 1995 numbers.

In 1995, law enforcement officers made 543 arrests, while in 2000 they made 307.

Those numbers, compiled by Alaska State Trooper analyst programmer Bobbi Weigman, count city and trooper arrests in Wasilla, Palmer and outlying areas.

Whether this is good news or bad news, however, depends on who you talk to.

On the face of it, the numbers look like public education about the risks of drunken driving is changing the way people think. The Valley population has been rising. If DWI arrests are shrinking, then doesn't that mean fewer people are driving drunk?

"My bet would be no," said MADD executive director Marti Greeson. "When the enforcement numbers drop that's usually not an indicator that fewer drunken drivers are on the road. There are too many variables. The officers throughout Alaska are low staffed. Officers get most of their calls for service during the time drunk drivers are on the streets."

Officers have war stories about arresting the same people multiple times. "I see a lot of repeats," said Palmer police officer Dwayne Shelton, who works the night shift. "Several are on their sixth or seventh DWI."

Palmer Police Chief George Boatright says he knows one man with multiple drunken-driving convictions who won't see his license again until the year 2050.

At the same time, in his nearly three decades in law enforcement, Boatright said he has seen success stories. One was an 18-year-old girl he arrested several years ago on her third DWI.

"I spent a little extra time with her, talking to her about where she was headed in life," Boatright said. "I think just the idea that someone was listening to her helped."

At Christmas time later that year, she sent him a bouquet of flowers and a card that told him she was "still sober."

Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said educational efforts and stiffer laws have had an affect, but it's difficult to measure that. Troopers tend to say there are fewer enforcement officers with the time to concentrate on DWI arrest patrol.

"It would be nice to say 'yes,' education is working, enforcement is working," he said. "But it may very well be that we don't have enough troopers to enforce and therefore we are doing less arrests."

In 1999, the Valley had 264 alcohol-related accidents. In 1995, there were 32 fewer than that -- 232 accidents. That number reflects how the problem really isn't going away, said Alaska State Trooper Capt. Simon Brown.

One factor that has changed since 1995 and probably affects troopers' ability to concentrate on DWI patrols is the mandatory laws focused on domestic violence, said Brown, who heads the Palmer post of the Alaska State Troopers. "Unlike in the past, when we could check on a situation and let the parties work it out among themselves, the law says we must now arrest the person causing the problem and remove that person from the home."

These cases take time to investigate and then process, Brown said. "That's not to say it's all gloom and doom with DWI rates and that people don't learn," he said. "Some people do change and never will drive drunk again."

According to a study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Alaskans are doing much better than in the past. Statistics show 40 percent fewer drivers involved in fatal crashes tested positive for some blood alcohol in 1999 than in 1982.

Alaska has had a significant decrease between 1975 and 1999 in the number of annual traffic fatalities. "This decrease is especially noteworthy in light of the 38-percent increase in Alaska's population over the same period," the study concluded.

Between 1975 and 1999, the Alaska decrease was 32 percent while the decrease in fatalities nationwide was 7 percent. The percentage of traffic fatalities in Alaska with anyone involved showing a high level of alcohol (.10 and above) also decreased -- from 52 percent in 1982 to 43 percent in 1999, the study found.

The percentage of drivers with high levels of blood-alcohol who were involved in fatal crashes decreased at a lower rate in Alaska than in the nation as a whole -- from 36 percent in 1982 to 27 percent in 1999. The national average was 30 percent in 1982, down to 17 percent in 1999.