Hastings Star Gazette: Rural areas continue to see higher rates of impaired driving

Rural areas continue to see higher rates of impaired driving Hastings Star Gazette

EXCERPT: “Metropolitan areas in Minnesota and Wisconsin have seen significant declines in the number of impaired driving offenses, but the rate of drunken driving in rural areas remains high. Minnesota’s Dakota, Washington and Hennepin counties saw the steepest reductions in chronically impaired drivers between 2015 and 2016. Hennepin, Minnesota’s largest county, experienced nearly a 100-person drop in DWI convictions for a fourth or higher DWI offense . . . In some rural counties, the number of chronic drunken drivers has either remained steady or has seen an uptick in the past five years. Stearns, Rice and Clay in Minnesota, saw the highest year-to-year increase between 2015 and 2016. Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, Jefferson, Monroe and Lafayette counties also saw the state’s highest increase over that same period.” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2xiQq1y