“Do you ever get scared having to catch up to these drivers?” is the first thing I ask Trooper Nicholas Brown after he stops a driver going 80 mph in a 60-mph zone on my ride-a-long. He laughs. The answer? “No, not anymore.” 

That doesn’t make his job safer. On the night I rode with Brown, he stops four drivers for speeding and other infractions. He had to turn on his sirens and weave through heavy traffic to catch up to a report of a stalled vehicle on the side of the highway. At one point, he sprinted totally unprotected into the highway to remove trash from the road — an object that could have otherwise caused a serious crash. 

I am on this ride with Brown to get a sense of what his summer will be like during the so-called "100 Deadliest Days" from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day. Brown knows that stretch of time is no summer holiday for law enforcement.

"With the snow gone and warmer temperatures, there are a lot more cars on the road and people looking to travel all over the state. With the dry road conditions, people tend to feel more comfortable speeding and that leads to more serious crashes on our highways,” said Brown.

To push back against the increase in danger, our Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) runs a campaign to make the roads safe and take summer back from dangerous driving behaviors.

“You have great weather, younger drivers with more free time and a lot of drinking all mixed together during the summer. For us in the traffic safety world, it’s a recipe for disaster,” said OTS Director Mike Hanson. “People start to think that this is normal, then they become complacent and don’t take responsibility for how they drive.”

Complacency is what Hanson and other traffic safety advocates are pushing back against. In Minnesota, there have been more than 110 fatal crashes this year. That’s down from 134 the same time last year as of May 13, but that isn’t much to celebrate if you have lost someone to an avoidable traffic crash. 

Families left behind

When drivers do fail to put safety first and a crash becomes fatal, cleaning up that crash falls to the responding law enforcement. This can be practical steps like waiting with a tow truck to provide extra protection from other drivers or picking up debris in the road. But it also means visiting those who have lost their loved ones, answering their questions and helping them begin to navigate the loss.

Troopers work to help a lot of families through a painful and sudden loss of a loved one. In this work, they created a guide for grieving families, a tool to guide families through the practical and often painful steps of losing someone on Minnesota roads. 

“There is no shortage of stories of terrible crashes and scary near misses from our law enforcement partners,” said Hanson. “You need to remember: It’s never about catching people, it’s about stopping them before a terrible choice becomes an unforgettable tragedy.”

The hope is that drivers see these stories because it is drivers who are the most powerful. Buckle up, slow down, don’t get distracted and always always drive sober. If everyone does this, Minnesota could have a summer season with zero casualties.  Towards Zero Deaths isn’t just a tag line, it’s a mission — one Minnesota can achieve if we all make better choices.