Northfield Advocate: Minnesota Crash Facts Don't Tell the Whole Story

Numbers usually don’t lie, but in this case, Kathy Cooper says the numbers just aren’t the whole story.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety last week released the 2010 Minnesota Crash Statistics, which say Rice County had four crash-related deaths last year.

Not so, says Cooper, coordinator of the Rice County Safe Communities Coalition, a membership made up of county agencies including law enforcement, public health, medical providers, the county attorney’s office, school districts, county engineer and fire departments.

Cooper says the report left off the death of 41-year-old David Markey who, in February 2010, died in Northfield after a night of drinking and was involved in a snowmobile accident.

The report also excludes the , a 20-year-old Faribault woman who was in a car on April 2, 2010, that crashed into the Cannon River. Landsverk’s body was found nearly three months later in the river. The driver of that vehicle, Mitchell Bongers, was found to have alcohol and drugs in his system and is currently making his way through the court system.

Because both deaths happened off-road, they were left off the list.

It’s something that shouldn’t happen, says Cooper, whose 15-year-old daughter Meghan died in 1999 after being ejected from a vehicle.

The absence of two deaths off the list makes a bad situation seem better, she said, while Rice County has long been part of the 13 deadliest counties in Minnesota.

But Cooper says it’s because of that distinction that organizations like the Safe Communities Coalition, which is funded through the Toward Zero Deaths Safe Roads grant, continues to operate and focus on education, enforcement, engineering and emergency services to increase the use of safety restraints and reduce the number of deaths on the county’s highways and roads.

An inaccurate report could damage that advocacy, she said, but says it’s all the more reason to continue fighting.

The report also says that of the four crash-related deaths, one was alcohol-related. But Cooper says the report fails to mention that drugs played a role in one of the crashes documented on the list, and fails to recognize the alcohol and/or drugs connected to the two deaths left off the list. Impaired driving is impaired driving, she said.

“It’s just got to stop,” Cooper said.

In 2009, Rice County also reported four crash-related deaths. But in 2010, the county saw a decrease in DWIs, down to 327—19th out of 87 counties—from 363 in 2009.

That, to Cooper and Northfield Deputy Chief of Police Chuck Walerius, is promising.

Cooper said with the aid of the Rice County MOD Squad, a collaboration of the county’s law enforcement officials, as well as Safe and Sober and other grants, deterrence has picked up in recent years with additional waves of law enforcement on the roads.

Officers throughout the county have been reporting that more cars are being left in bar parking lots at night than in years passed, as well as more designated drivers being used, which they’ve been informally tracked during routine stops. There have also been reports of an uptick in late-night cab calls, Cooper said.

It adds up to minor victories, but advocates need to stay vigilant, they say.

With the Fourth of July weekend hours away, Walerius is hopeful for a statewide repeat performance of the last major holiday.

“We’re hoping we can duplicate what we did for Memorial Day, which was zero (deaths),” he said.

Statewide, 2010 was the third year in a row that overall traffic deaths fell, according to the DPS. There were 411 deaths on the road last year, the lowest since 1944 when 354 people were killed in Minnesota roads.

“The continuing drop in road fatalities is a clear and positive signal that motorists are making safe decisions behind the wheel,” said DPS Commissioner Mona Dohman in a statement. “To build on this momentum, we’ll continue our focus of enhanced enforcement and education campaigns to combat the ongoing threats on the roads such as drunk, aggressive and distracted drivers.”

Today (Thursday), the Minnesota State Patrol will blanket roads with every trooper for Maroon Day—the color of the Patrol—as a deterrent. June 30 has been the deadliest day on Minnesota roads during the past 10 years, according to Lt. Eric Roeske.

Should drinking be part of your agenda during the holiday, Walerius advises to plan ahead: have a designated driver, drive the speed limit, allow for plenty of time to travel, be attentive and always wear a seat belt.

“Hopefully it will make a difference.”

Want to see more numbers? Click on the PDFs at the top of the article.