Every day you see people looking down at their phones while driving and every once in a while you read about the tragic consequences. The CDC says 3,000 people die and more than 400,000 are injured every year in car crashes caused by distracted driving.

April is distracted driver awareness month and area law enforcement is participating in the campaign. Below, Sgt. Troy Christianson explains what the Minnesota State Patrol is doing and shares some startling stats from Minnesota highways.

In Minnesota, distracted driving contributed to more than 39,000 crashes from 2017 to 2021 and an average of 28 deaths and 161 serious injuries each year."
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Sgt. Christianson says, "To help change dangerous driving behaviors, law enforcement agencies statewide are participating in a distracted driving enforcement campaign April 1 - 30. We’ve been doing this for several years now as April is “national distracted driving awareness month.” Along with enforcement, we continue to put this information in newsprint, radio, TV, and social media."

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The Minnesota State Trooper says the easiest way to prevent a tragic crash is to make a smart choice. "No one intends to seriously injure or kill someone by driving distracted, but good intentions alone don't prevent crashes. Smart choices do. In Minnesota, distracted driving contributed to more than 39,000 crashes from 2017 to 2021 and an average of 28 deaths and 161 serious injuries each year."

Christianson encourages motorists to check out recourses like HandsFreeMN.org and DriveSmartMN.org for more information and says you can, "drive smart and keep yourself and others safe by parking the phone, avoiding distractions and paying attention.

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