Police in Bemidji last week arrested a driver who had a blood alcohol content of nearly four times the legal limit after he or she nearly ran over a group of people at a parade.
“For us traffic safety professionals, it really causes us frustration and causes us to scratch our head,” says Mike Hansen, director of the Office of Traffic Safety for the Department of Public Safety.
Hansen said the numbers of drunken drivers are going the wrong way.
“Over the course of the weekend, it has really kind of reflected what we've been seeing all year, which is a gradual but yet concerning uptick,” Hansen says.
And, he’s not sure why.
“We shouldn't be going up. We should in fact be going down. There are too many ways for people to plan ahead and not have to worry about an impaired driving issue,” Hansen tells WCCO Radio.
The state is working with local law enforcement to get grants to pay for overtime so more officers can be on the roads during the remainder of this holiday season.
The Department of Public Safety says there have been 411 deaths on Minnesota roadways in 2022. The department has so far credited 97 of those deaths to alcohol-related crashes (through October).