Minnesota traffic fatalities were up 6% in 2018 even though state totals trended downward over a five-year period, according to the Department of Public Safety's annual crash report released Friday.
The crash facts summary — a compilation of data from law enforcement agencies that identifies how, why and where crashes occurred as well as who was involved — aims to inform future safety initiatives to change motorist behavior.
"We know there are strategies that are more effective than others," said Mike Hanson, director of the department's Office of Traffic Safety. "We can't just solve everything with a hammer."
Heading into the busy Labor Day weekend, 2019's numbers are ahead of 2018's pace. There have been 223 traffic deaths so far this year, compared with 218 at this time last year. Unbelted motorists account for the most deaths, with 41. The number of pedestrian deaths has jumped from 18 at this time last year to 25 so far this year.
The pedestrian deaths are especially concerning to Hanson as fall and winter loom.
"We see a significant uptick as daylight hours get shorter," he said. Preventing those deaths requires pedestrians — as well as drivers — to pay more attention to where they're going, he said.
The 116-page state report is laden with charts, graphs and narrative that slice and dice and present crash information from all sorts of angles — time of day for bike crashes, the age of drivers who run red lights, teen-involved crashes by month, and many others.
Over the years, that data has led to successes. Hanson said installation of cable medians on divided rural highways has nearly eliminated wrong-way crashes on those roads.