Distracted Driving Deaths Jump

In today's Star Tribune the headline on page 1 read as above. The article went on to note that there was a 21% increase in 2015 in traffic deaths in Minnesota attributed to distracted driving. Perhaps more worrisome is the fact that traffic deaths went up in 2015 over 2014. The good news was that speeding related fatalities were reduced by 17%. Donna Berger, director of the Office of Traffic Safety for the state of Minnesota was interviewed and commented that distractions can come in many forms including eating, grooming, picking up a dropped item or trying to monitor kids in the back seat. It isn't all about texting and driving.

It is no coincidence that this article was published on July 1 because the July 4 holiday weekend tends to be the deadliest holiday for drunken driving. Since 2011 more than 40% of fatal crashes over the July 4 holiday were linked to drunken driving