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Estelle Timar-Wilcox

Traffic deaths decreased in 2025, state safety officials say

Traffic moves along a city street
Traffic moves along West Seventh Street in St. Paul on Sept. 19, 2025, after the street fully reopened following months of repairs.
Andrew Krueger | MPR News

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After a spike following the COVID-19 pandemic, traffic deaths in Minnesota were down last year, according to preliminary state data. 

The state’s Department of Public Safety reports 370 deaths on Minnesota roadways in 2025. That’s down from 475 in 2024. 

Mike Hanson leads the department’s Office of Traffic Safety. He said that’s a good sign.

“But we still have a lot of work to do to continue a downward trend, to get us down to zero,” Hanson said. 

Traffic deaths in the five years preceding the pandemic averaged around 380. 2025 saw the lowest number of deaths since 2019.

“After the pandemic, the wheels really kind of came off when it came to traffic fatalities and serious injuries on Minnesota roads, for some reasons that we're still trying to figure out,” Hanson said.

Most crashes in the state can be traced back to four main risk factors: speeding, impaired driving, distracted driving and driving without a seat belt on. Hanson said state data shows decreases in deaths and serious injuries across the board, in every category of risky driving. 

“I think most Minnesotans are making much better choices behind the wheel, and that’s leading to safer roads,” Hanson said.

He pointed to several possible causes of the decreased deaths last year. Hanson said more police departments across the state stepped up traffic patrols, which he believes helped lower crash numbers. 

And he pointed to a 2023 boost in funding from the state legislature, which allocated $20 million to traffic safety. That’s gone towards enhanced speeding enforcement and efforts to improve road infrastructure.

“We’re just going to double down on what works and keep going and build on the momentum that hopefully started in 2025,” Hanson said.