Crime & Safety

VIDEO: Local Police Target Distracted Drivers

Minnetonka Police will be looking for texting, Internet-browsing, eating and grooming drivers tomorrow.

The  will be taking part in a statewide effort to curb distracted driving today. Drivers across Minnesota will be stopped for behavior, which state and local police say endangers the public, including texting, reaching for items, fiddling with the radio, eating or drinking, dealing with passengers and grooming. 

This distracted driving campaign comes just two days after after Minnetonka Police say she hit and badly injured a man on Excelsior Boulevard because she was distracted by an incoming text message on her cell phone. 

Driver distraction is a leading crash factor in Minnesota, accounting for around 20 percent of all crashes annually and resulting in at least 70 deaths and 350 injuries every year. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) also reports that these numbers are vastly underreported due to officers’ challenges of determining “distraction” as a contributing crash factor.

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In Minnesota, it is illegal for drivers to read, compose or send texts/emails, and access the Web on a wireless device while the vehicle is in motion or a part of traffic, such as at a stoplight or stuck in traffic. It is also illegal for drivers under age 18 to use a cell phone at any time.

The DPS Office of Traffic Safety has just released two TV spots addressing the dangers of texting while driving — featuring fatal crash victims texting from body bags.

Find out what's happening in Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“These spots magnify that texting while driving is illegal for a reason — it is particularly dangerous and may have deadly consequences,” Cheri Marti, DPS Office of Traffic Safety director, said in a statement. “Texting and driving is its own universe of risk. No matter how routine driving may seem, the driving environment changes constantly — and can change in an instant — and drivers must be focused to best react to avoid a crash.” 


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