Over 3100 people were killed in a motor vehicle crash in 2013 involving a distracted driver. About seven percent of death on our roads were from distracted driving. Because of those numbers by distraction.gov Minnesota police are cracking down on distracted driving.

Brainerd Police says the average time it takes to read and respond to a text message is about 5 seconds. And if a distracted driver is traveling 55 MPH, then they would have traveled over 400 feet without their eyes on the road.

Police officers in the Brainerd Lakes Area are shedding their marked squad cars for unmarked cars, in hopes of seeing drivers acting more naturally.

Brainerd Police is using funding from Minnesota’s Towards Zero Death grant to help pay for extra officers to be on the roads ticketing distracted drivers.

By — Lakeland PBS

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