- 2010 Minnesota Crash Facts
- 2010 Minnesota Alcohol - Related Crash Facts
- Minnesota Crash Statistics by County
- SCHOOL BUS LAWS IN MINNESOTA for the safety of children
- Bicycle Safety laws
- Minnesota’s Ted Foss Move Over Law requires motorist
- Cell Phone and Texting Laws
- Minnesota Index Driving in Snow and Ice
- Minnesota Crash and Crime Clock
- Minnesota Traffic Safety Laws
- Minnesota Deadliest Counties
MINNESOTA CRASH FACTS FOR 2010
In 2010…
411 people died on Minnesota highways and 31,176 were injured. This is a 2.4% decrease from 2009
Breakdown of Total Fatalities:
305 died in vehicles, 36 were pedestrians, 45 motorcyclists, 8 ATV, 3 snowmobile, 1 commercial truck occupants, 9 riding bicycles, 2 on farm equipment and 2 “others”.
- Contributing factors in SINGLE vehicle crashes
- Speed 25%
- Driver inattention 13%,
- Chemical impairment 8%
- Overcorrecting 8%
- Contributing factors in MULTIPLE vehicle crashes
- Driver inattention 22.6%,
- Failure to yield 19.2%,
- Following to closely 12.1%
- Speed 7.5%
Daytime Seatbelt use is estimated at 92%.
In June of 1986 only 20% of drivers used a seatbelt. The northwest and southwest parts of Minnesota had the lowest seatbelt use; the metro area had the best. Of the 305 vehicle occupant deaths, 25% of these were either ejected or partially ejected from their vehicles. 55% of those not belted in a fatal crash were ejected.
The most dangerous month this year was July with 44 deaths and 1975 injuries.
The most dangerous holiday period was Memorial Day weekend
that had 9 deaths and 245 injuries
Severe injuries are on the decrease because of seat belt use. But 44% (10% not known) of those killed were not wearing their seatbelts. This rate is much higher than the 8% non use by all drivers throughout the state.
69% of all fatal crashes occurred in rural areas (less than 5000 population). Injury and property crashes usually occur more often in urban areas. The 7 county metro area had 26% of the fatal crashes, but 59% of all crashes.
In 2010, fatal crashes occurred most often in the afternoon between 3 and 6pm. and in the morning between 5 - 6 am. This has changed from the early 90’s when it was most common between 10pm and 2am.
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death to young people. 111 people (27%) under age 25 died in crashes. 1 died under age 15; 54 died age 15 – 19 and 56 died ages 20 – 24 People aged 15-24 are 15.7% of licensed drivers yet they account for 25.3% of crash involved drivers.
15 to 19 year olds represent 6.5% of the licensed drivers and over 11.4% of the crash involved drivers 76 people over 65 died in crashes. Those over 40 had the most fatalities.
Motorcycle deaths were the greatest in the 40 and older age bracket this accounted for 54% of all motorcycle deaths. Only 27% of those killed were known to be wearing their helmet. The most dangerous time for motorcyclists is between 3 –5 pm. Most crashes occur in areas under 1000 people. 35% of motorcyclists involved in crashes were drunk, over .08.
The fatality rate for motorcyclists went down 15% from 2009. Motorcyclists comprise 4% of registered vehicles but 12.5% of the state fatalities. July was their most dangerous month.
Main contributing factors of crashes caused by single motorcycle crashes – speed, driver inexperience, distraction and chemical impairment. Multi vehicle crashes are usually caused by - following too close, failure to yield and driver inattention. 35% of the crashes are alcohol related
Pedestrian crash incidence decreased in 2010 from 883 to 808. Most deaths happen in big cities during the two rush hours. Again October was the most dangerous month. 34% of pedestrians killed were over .10BAC. Ages 20 to 24 had the most deaths and injuries. Most of those killed were crossing a street without a crosswalk. 36 pedestrians were killed and 880 were injured
Bicycle Crashes decreased from 957(2009) to 898 (2010) the lowest in over 10 years. The most dangerous time is from 3:00 – 6:00 pm in big cities. July is the worse month. Failure to yield the right of way was cited most often for both the bicyclists and other motor vehicle drivers. Driver inattention or distraction was the second contributing factor cited most often for the other drivers.
9 bicyclist were killed and 882 were injured.
More bicycle crash facts are at this website http://www.sharetheroadmn.org/crash.html
For older drivers People over 65 are safe drivers as a general rule, but are more likely to be killed if they are involved in a traffic crash. Senior citizen drivers were involved in only 8% of all traffic crashes in 2010 but accounted for 18% of traffic fatalities. For older drivers involved in crashes, driver inattention or distracted was the most cited for cause of crash.
Most crashes happen on clear days and during daylight hours
The population of Minnesota approached 5.32 million
Over 4.9 million motor vehicles were registered
There were over 3.9 million licensed drivers
Over 57 billion miles were driven
There were 74,073 traffic crashes, increase of 1%
There were 134,414 motor vehicle crashes
182,672 people were involved in these crashes
Total economic loss $1,477,388,500
Statistics taken from 2010 Crash Facts Minnesota Department of Public Safety
www.dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/educational-materials/Documents/CRASH-FACTS-2010.pdf
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131 people died in crashes classified as “alcohol- related” That is 32% of the total fatalities. There were 3,743 alcohol-related crashes and 2,485 people injured. This is a 20% drop from 2006
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Most of the alcohol-related fatal crashes (76%) involved a single vehicle colliding with a fixed object, or a single vehicle losing control and overturning.
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April followed by July was the most dangerous months. The most dangerous time for an alcohol-related crash is midnight – 2am and especially early Saturday morning. 58% of alcohol-related crashes happen on the weekend
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Of the 237 drivers tested for alcohol after a fatal crash, 156 tested .00 BAC, 6 tested .01 - .07bac, 2 between .08 & .09, 73 tested .10 or above.
There is a strong relationship between alcohol and the severity of a crash
Alcohol is involved in 6% or minor injury crashes, 11% of moderate injuries,
24% of severe injury crashes and 32% of fatalities.
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There were 29,918 impaired incidents (DWI arrests). This is a 9% decrease from last year. Most notable reason is less law enforcement on the road. Of those incidents 53% were age 21 – 34, 7% under 21, 27% age 35 – 49, 13% were 50 and older. That is 82 DWI arrests per day.
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1 in 7 Minnesota drivers have a DWI on their record. 1 in 17 has two or more DWI’s on their record
41% of those who occur one violation will occur a second within 15 years of first arrest. 49% of DWI arrests were first time offenders.
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Motorists age 15 – 34 accounted for 38% of all traffic deaths and for 55% of all alcohol related deaths. 73% of those killed were the drinking driver, pedestrians, bicyclists or motorcyclist. 75% of those who died in vehicle crashes were not wearing their seatbelt
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Of the arrests, males were 66% of the number and females were 24%. In 1996, females made up 18% of DWI arrests. One half of the state’s DWI’s arrests were made in the 7 county metro area.
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National Safety Council reports that the cost of alcohol-related crashes in Minnesota amounts to 239 million dollars
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In the 1960’s around 60% of all traffic deaths were alcohol related, now it is 32%. That most likely is due to many changes in behavior, laws, safer roads and vehicles.
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County State Aid Highways had the most alcohol related crashes and deaths. 77% of the 131 deaths occurred outside the Twin Cities metro area.
*a crash is classified as “alcohol-related” if any driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist is shown by a chemical test to be positive for alcohol. Then any people killed or injured in that crash are classified as alcohol-related. The test does not need to be over .08 BAC. to be alcohol- related
Complied from Minnesota Crash Facts 2010, Minnesota Department of Public Safety. For more information go to their website at
www.dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/educational-materials/Documents/CRASH-FACTS-2010.pdf
SCHOOL BUS LAWS IN MINNESOTA for the safety of children
Children getting on and off the bus: When a school bus is stopped on a street or highway, or other location where signs have been erected and is displaying an extended stop-signal arm and flashing red lights, the driver of a vehicle approaching the bus, from either direction, shall stop the vehicle at least 20 feet away from the bus. The vehicle driver shall not move until the school bus stop-signal arm is retracted and the red lights are no longer flashing.
No person may pass or attempt to pass a school bus in a motor vehicle on the right-hand, passenger-door side of the bus when the school bus is displaying the pre-warning flashing amber signals.
Violations of either of these paragraphs is a Gross Misdemeanor
For safety sake, stop your vehicle when you see the flashing yellow lights.
Bicycle Safety laws
www.revisor.mn.gov/statues/?id=169.22
Every person operating a bicycle shall have all of the rights and duties applicable to the driver of any other vehicle by this chapter, except in respect to those provisions in this chapter relating expressly to bicycles and in respect to those provisions of this chapter which by their nature cannot reasonably be applied to bicycles.
Also check out these sites for Bicycle Rules of the road, crash facts and others
http://www.sharetheroadmn.org/rules.html or
https://www.bikemn.org/education/
Minnesota’s Ted Foss Move Over Law requires motorists on multi-lane highways to move one lane away from emergency vehicles with flashing lights on the roadway or shoulder
To put it simply:
· If you are traveling on a roadway with two of more lanes, you must keep a lane away
when passing a stopped ambulance, fire truck, or law enforcement vehicle.
· If you are not able to safely move a lane away, reduce your speed.
· If you fail to take these actions you could receive a citation.
· Ignoring this law endangers the law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency
medical personnel, and tow truck drivers who provide critical — and sometimes
lifesaving — services on Minnesota roadways.
Minnesota Index Driving in Snow and Ice
Miles of streets and highways in Minnesota………………………………………. 135,000
Lane miles that state Department of Transportation is responsible for
In winter 2010-11, as approximate………………………………………………… 31,000
Lane miles in 2007-08 winter………………………………………………………… 30,317
Lane miles in the Twins Cities metropolitan area in 2009-10………………. 5000
Lane miles in 2007-08……………………………………………………………………. 4,925
Inches of snow received in Twin Cities metropolitan area in 2009-10…. 40.7
Inches in 2008-09……………………………………………………………………………. 56.8
Inches in 2005-06……………………………………………………………………………. 44.4
Inches of snow received in southwestern part of the state in 2009-10 . 53.4
Inches of snow received in northwestern part of the state in 2009-10… 37.2
Inches in 2008-09………………………………………………………………………………. 73.2
Inches in 2005-06……………………………………………………………………………….89.1
Number of Priority 1 snowplow drivers that MnDOT now has……………….1,482
Number of Priority 2, or back up drivers…………………………………………….300
Trucks MnDOT now has for snow removal…………………………………………….780
Current cost of a single-axel truck………………………………………………………….$170,000
Cost of tandem axel……………………………………………………………… …..$210.000
Cost three years earlier……………………………………………………$153,000, $172,000
Seconds behind a snowplow that a vehicle following should maintain
at a minimum………………………………………………………… ……… 8
Seconds for heavier fully equipped truck weight…………….15 times more than car
Crashes statewide between Oct.1, 2009 and April 30, 2007 involving
Public property or vehicles during plowing or sanding operations….84
Numbers of crashes in the Twin Cities area……………………………………38
Truck crashes statewide in previous one-year period………………………………..103
Tons of salt MnDOT used in the winter of 2009-10……………………………………180,252
Tons used in 2006-07…………………………………………………………………….182,386
Tons of sand MnDOT used in winter of 2009-10 in millions……………………….41,811
Tons used 2006-07……………………………………………………………………………….51,716
Gallons of brine MnDOT used in winter of 2009-10, in millions………………….1.8
Gallons in winter of 2006-07…………………………………………………………………….2.5
Number people can call to get current information on road conditions……..511
Sources: Department of Transportation
MSD found these listings on Session Weekly Minnesota House of Representatives
