Posted at: 11/23/2010 6:50 PM
By: Gordon Severson
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(ABC 6 NEWS) — In the past three years, 15 people in Olmsted County were killed in drunk driving crashes. Another 30 seriously injured.
Those numbers put Olmsted County on a list of Minnesota’s Deadliest Counties for impaired driving.
It’s a list you don’t want to be on.
“We’ve been aware that Olmsted County has been one of the top 13 deadliest counties in Minnesota,” Rochester Police Department’s Lt. K.C Reed said.
Olmsted County is no stranger to the list. Last year it was actually number 9 and this year flipped around and became number six.
“Unfortunately Olmsted County has been on the top 13 deadliest county list for quite a number of years,” Kristine Hernandez of MnDOT said.
Most of the counties topping the list are in the Twin Cities area, but officials believe it’s Olmsted’s rural roads and college-age population that may lead to these high numbers.
“There’s a lot of rural roads, where people have the perception that rural roads are safer,” Reed said.
And numerous agencies have had enough, they’re looking to get off the list.
“There will be stepped up enforcement. We have patrols scheduled starting Wednesday evening,” Reed explained.
“Aside from the high visibility law enforcement we pair that up with education and kind of outreach efforts. So we’ll be going into the college in a couple weeks trying to educate young inexperienced drivers at the college,” Hernandez said.
Another program actually teams volunteers with officers that go into bars and place coasters under drinks that remind people to drive sober.
“You’d be amazed driving around the next day and how many people have left their cars in the bar,” Hernandez said.
MnDOT explains that not only do these efforts save lives, but also money. The list of 13 counties also explains the economic impact of DWI accidents. The past 3 years have cost over $20.6 million.
“The economic cost to the state is very high,” Hernandez explained.
Olmsted is the only county in our area on the list.
Hennepin, St. louis and Anoka counties make up the top three.
Authorities in all of the counties mentioned will do increased DWI patrols over the next 10 months.