Scooters Bar in Chisago City is a big bar in a small town with plenty of charm. The women’s restroom is guarded by an old bank vault door, and the bar is second home to the locals who gather most nights. Owners Mandy and Neil Clontz were talking to some regulars one mid-March night when Chisago County Sgt. Kyle Puelston walked in — in uniform. 

Puelston was there to educate everyone on the dangers of driving while intoxicated and to help them learn just how much is too much to drink. The program is called Learn Your Limits, and it has become something of a hit in Chisago City.

“People were nervous at first, but it’s fun!” said Mandy Clontz. “And it doesn’t hurt the business, people like it.”

Puelston’s mission felt especially important for participants this spring. Just a week before he led the program, a small child was killed in a crash involving an impaired driver in the county. The loss drove home the importance of driving sober.

A Chisago veteran deputy sheriff of 19 years, Puelston also feels the high cost of impaired driving personally. He was hit by a drunk driver in 2020 while looking for impaired drivers himself, and, when he was in school for law enforcement, three of Puelston’s friends were killed by a drunk driver in a single incident. His recovery and his loss are now what drives him to catch every impaired driver he can.

 

“Almost every time I have arrested a drunk driver; I had the image of my three friends in my mind.” Puelston said. “Maybe taking this drunk driver off the road will prevent something like that from happening.” Puelston hopes that the program will help stop drivers before they get in a crash, and participants agree. Greg Route, a Learn Your Limits veteran, thinks the program is great and hopes more bars and communities host events like it.

“About 18 years ago, I did have one DWI, and, if this program was in play back in that time, maybe I would have made better decisions,” Route said, praising the sheriff’s office for taking this step. He hopes the next generation of young people hear the message to only drive sober.

“What I’d like to say to them is 'Don’t be afraid to ask for a ride or set it up prior,’” Route said. “There’s always somebody out there who cares; you got your mom, your dad, your family out there.”

For our Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), community outreach and enforcement are the tools they are leaning on hard to save lives and stop driving while impaired (DWI) crashes before they happen.

“Last year law enforcement responded to 129 fatal crashes where impairment was involved. That’s 129 times a mother, a father a son or daughter was told their loved one died because someone made the choice to get behind the wheel impaired,” said OTS Director Mike Hanson. “Drivers have tremendous power. They can save lives, they just need to be sober. If everyone in Minnesota knew their limits last year more than a hundred families would still be whole.”

In the first two months of 2025, Minnesota had 13 impaired-related deaths reported on its roads and more than 3,800 DWI arrests. The state is funding extra enforcement on peak travel days and continues to educate the public in as many ways as it can.

For Puelston, he hopes that Learn Your Limits saves more lives and stops people from getting hurt by a drunk driver.

“If we can get in bars and restaurants to educate people and have friendly conversations and develop relationships, maybe we can prevent my story from becoming somebody else’s story.” Puelston said.

Local law enforcement agencies interested in starting their own Learn Your Limits educational program should reach out to Shannon Grabow by going to Department of Public Safety’s Office of Traffic Safety website.