Extra patrols to enforce DWI law this weekend

Published 9:28 am Friday, January 30, 2015

ST. PAUL — Minnesota troopers say more people are arrested for driving drunk on Super Bowl weekend than the subsequent and prior weekends.

The state Department of Public Safety says on Super Bowl game day through Monday, an average of 190 drivers will be arrested for drunken driving and at least one person will die.

Officials say that in the past 10 years, DWI arrests spiked by 24 percent during Super Bowl weekend compared to the weekend before — and 18 percent more compared to the following weekend.

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This weekend, law enforcement will add extra DWI patrols in most of the 25 most dangerous counties in Minnesota. Drunken driving arrests continue to decreasing in Minnesota. Preliminary numbers show there were about 1,500 fewer DWI arrests in 2014 than in 2013 when about 25,700 people were cited for drunken driving.