Expect more DWI patrols on the road following patterns of dangerous driving

[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: Our top story this afternoon on Minnesota Now, expect extra DWI patrols on the road today through New Year's Eve. The state Office of Traffic Safety is ramping up enforcement in an effort to reduce alcohol-related crashes in Minnesota over the holidays. Road safety is on many of our minds as we hit the roads tomorrow. Maybe you're traveling a few minutes or a few hours to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends.

So for more, Mike Hanson is on the line. He's the director of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety. Thanks for being here, Mike. Nice to talk to you again.

MIKE HANSON: Oh, thanks for having me on, Nina. I look forward to our conversation today.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, thank you. This is really important. As we're nearing the end of 2024, can you just give us a sense of what the roads have been like this year in terms of safety and why you feel this initiative is the right way to go right now?

MIKE HANSON: Oh, that's a tough question because quite honestly, when I look at where we're at this year with fatalities and serious injuries on Minnesota roads, quite honestly, for me and the traffic safety business, it's heartbreaking.

NINA MOINI: Aw.

MIKE HANSON: At least 418 fatalities to date. And just to put that into a little bit of perspective, that's 64 more than we were at this time last year. That's unacceptable. It's heartbreaking. It's tragic. It's frustrating. It makes me angry. There is no reason for us to be looking at numbers like this.

Every one of these 418, that number represents an individual family that is going to have an empty table or an empty chair at the Thanksgiving table this year. That's a family that had to plan a funeral for somebody who lost their life because of somebody's bad decision at some point. Traffic crashes are not inevitable. Every one of them are preventable, if we can just all figure out how to work together and fix some of the problems that we're seeing out there.

NINA MOINI: Thank you for that. That's important. I know the focus here is specific maybe to alcohol-related crashes, but when you're looking at these numbers, do you have a sense or are you able to get a sense for why they're so drastic and upsetting right now? Or do you just say, our job is to stick to the enforcement side of things?

MIKE HANSON: Well, again, that's a good, broad question. And certainly, enforcement is part of the strategy that we're trying to employ to change driver behavior for the better.

But changing cultural practices and changing how drivers interact with each other on the road, and really, the roots of some of the challenges that we're seeing now really go back to the onset of the pandemic, when the roads emptied out and we saw vehicle miles traveled-- that's how we measure the number of cars that are on the road and all of that-- those numbers plummeted.

And every time that happens, historically, we see a drop in fatal and serious injury crashes. Well, in 2020, instead of a drop, we saw a 100% increase in the number of fatal and serious crashes. And many of those are attributed to speed and to impairment.

And so we're employing enforcement, but we're also doing things like having a conversation with you and getting the word out there that, hey, you know what? Minnesota, we got to work together to make our roads safe for everybody. We all want to get where we're going safely, but we all have to follow a given set of rules on the road if we're going to do that and treat the driving task more as a cooperative venture than a competition.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and we've heard this anecdotally that people are saying, wow, people are just driving way worse than they used to. I know there's alcohol and other substances. What are some of the other dangerous driving behaviors that maybe you're seeing or seeing more of-- speeding, road rage, that type of thing? Are you seeing a rise there?

MIKE HANSON: The number one thing that we're seeing that-- and this is the one thing that makes everything else worse. It makes impairment worse. It makes distraction worse. It makes not wearing a seat belt worse. And that is speed, speed, speed. We've just seen speed continue to go up and up and up across Minnesota. And this is across the country as well.

And speed is the one thing that controls the outcome of any crash that occurs because speed is energy. Energy is what causes injury and death. So the more speed and the more energy you bring into a collision, the worse the outcome is going to be. And so speeding and impairment and distraction, and still, we have a segment of our population that doesn't wear that belt all the time. And those are the four things that are the result of almost every one of these serious and fatal crashes that we're talking about.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and these are the types of things we all know, right? But I'm always happy to talk about them and give reminders, especially before a big holiday weekend, because you just can't remind people enough. So when you're ramping up enforcement, can you tell me a little bit about what that looks like, what drivers might see? And it's across the entire state.

MIKE HANSON: You bet. And everything we do is driven by data. And so, yeah, we are kicking off an impaired driving enforcement campaign and education campaign right now. The reason we're doing that is because historically, we know that starting the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, right through New Year's Day, is one of the most dangerous times on Minnesota roads when it comes to impaired driving.

You just think of all the things that are going on this time of the year. And it lends itself to people maybe imbibing and overimbibing or overusing, whatever it happens to be. And so we use the data to tell us the when and where and why and how we need to deploy our resources. And so across the state, we are partnering with over 300 law enforcement agencies between now and New Year's Day to do everything that we can to be the backstop, to stop a tragedy before it happens when somebody makes a bad decision.

But you know what? By the time that arrest and that traffic stop takes place, it's too late, really. We need people to make better decisions before they get behind the wheel. And that's part of our education and our public outreach campaign-- and media interviews like this, trying to get people to think ahead of time, to plan, to make good, smart, safe decisions before they get behind the wheel.

There's no excuse for somebody to be arrested for impaired driving or to be involved in a crash that results from impaired driving. There's just too many options out there today that you can avail yourself from, even in greater Minnesota. It's as simple as just making a plan, having a designated driver that you can count on, and/or having a place to stay or somebody who can come pick you up who you know will be sober.

NINA MOINI: Sure. I wanted to ask you quick about this. This is not related to impaired driving, but I think it's a good opportunity to share advice with folks. We just learned in the last hour in the newsroom that in Dakota County, a 69-year-old man from Hastings struck a deer while driving and then pulled over on the north shoulder to get out and remove the deer from the roadway, and unfortunately was struck by another vehicle.

And the man has not been identified. We don't know all the circumstances here-- certainly, very sad. But I wondered if you could share with folks, what do you do if there's debris or if you get in a crash, and you're in the middle of the road, or maybe you're on a highway? Give folks the rundown of what to do to be safe.

MIKE HANSON: Oh, and thank you for the opportunity to address this because this is an area where we're seeing an uptick in the number of folks who are hit at roadside and struck by incidents, as we call it. If you are involved in a crash or some type of an incident on the roadway, stay in your car until help arrives. Do not expose yourself.

And I see this, traveling through the metro area all the time. Somebody is involved in a minor crash. They're standing out next to the traffic lane, next to their car. That's a recipe for disaster. And especially if we're talking about when we have inclement weather, slippery road conditions, things like that, stay in your car. It will protect you. If you're outside the car, you have no protection. And wait for help to get there. You need to protect yourself and to protect others and not put them in danger either.

NINA MOINI: Yup, and keep all of your winter gear and things in the car as well. It's a good time to make sure you have the safety equipment you need, correct?

MIKE HANSON: Correct, correct. You want to make sure you have good tires on your car. Pay attention to those little maintenance items. Because as we get into the cold weather season, which we're into right now, it doesn't take much to disable even the most modern automobiles. So if you don't take care of those little things, you can and will wind up being stranded.

And that's where you need to have extra warm clothes. You need to make sure-- hopefully you have a cell phone and the cell phone battery that works so you can call for help. But you also need to have some of those basic things that you need in the car, like something warm, some way to have maybe some water, some food, some things like that, or warning devices that you can carefully place outside of your car, if that's appropriate. But again never take the chance and expose yourself needlessly if traffic is still whizzing by.

NINA MOINI: Mike, thank you for being here. Thank you for your work. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

MIKE HANSON: Well, thanks, Nina. It's always such a pleasure to talk with you and with your audience. And we appreciate the opportunity to get our message out. And let's talk on Monday about a zero-fatality Thanksgiving weekend. How about that?

NINA MOINI: Oh, I hope so. Thank you, Mike. Take care.

MIKE HANSON: All right. You bet. Bye-bye.

NINA MOINI: That's Mike Hanson, Director of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety.