Senseless drunk driving needs to stop
Fri, 12/12/2025 - 8:24am
admin
By:
Rick Bussler
Drunk driving significantly impacts families across Minnesota. And, sadly, we’ve seen it right in our own community.
Over the past month, we had some major stories about suspected drunk driving in Steele County. Most notably, the fatal wreck near Hope that killed a woman at the hands of a man suspected of being more than twice the legal limit to drive. His case is pending in court.
From 2020 to 2024, there have been 668 alcohol-related driving deaths, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. On top of that, crashes caused approximately 1,926 serious injuries. There were 125,336 driving while impaired arrests.
Sound like a bunch of numbers? Yes, it does. I encourage you, though, to get past the numbers.
They are heart wrenching because behind every alcohol fatality, there is a family left grieving. Each and every number represents family members dealing with substantial losses for the rest of their lives.
Just last week, a 20-year-old Shakopee man has been charged in connection with a rear-end crash that killed a 46-year-old woman on Highway 169. The man was well above the legal limit.
These kinds of tragedies are all too common. And all of them are totally preventable.
In my former professional career as a police officer, I focused heavily on drunk driving enforcement. I arrested hundreds of drunk drivers, including a state senator, for having one too many behind the wheel. I earned top recognition from Mothers Against Drunk Driving several times over the years.
I have absolutely no tolerance for drunk drivers. They are dangerous to society, the innocent motorists who are simply trying to get from Point A to Point B.
One of my earliest memories of a drunk driver came when I was doing a ride along for the TV station with a state trooper on I-90 in Austin many years ago. We had an intoxicated 70-year-old woman driving in the wrong lane of I-90 coming at us head-on. We narrowly escaped getting hit and the trooper promptly arrested her.
That encounter left me wanting to make a difference in society by getting drunks off the roads.
Police officers are often called every name in the book for arresting drunks, of course by the drunks themselves typically. It comes with the territory. But sometimes, though not often, drunks see the light and recognize they have a problem.
Several years after I made a DWI arrest, the man approached me at of all places the Minnesota State Fair to thank me for arresting him. He commented how it changed him and that it was the jolt he needed to get his life back on track. It’s an encounter that caught me off guard and I will never forget.
I’ve also personally dealt with families directly impacted by tragedy. In 2004, a family from rural Dakota County lost three teenage boys in a single crash by a drunk driver. Seeing what they experienced has probably had the most impact in my life.
As we head into the holiday season, I’d like to issue a stern reminder that law enforcement is actively combating this problem with increased enforcement campaigns. People also need to understand that impaired driving is preventable. All it takes to stop impaired driving is to plan ahead for a sober ride if you’ll be consuming any impairing substance.
My wish is that everyone will go in hot pursuit of being responsible and doing your part to prevent these senseless tragedies from taking a toll on society.
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