The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety reported about 400 DWI arrests during St. Patrick’s Day weekend March 16 and 17. This arrest count is preliminary, but that number is higher than 2012’s, when St. Patrick’s Day was on a Saturday.

The Austin Police Department reported four DWIs this year on Friday and Saturday, and the Mower County Sheriff’s Office reported one DWI on Sunday.

The State Patrol reported one fatality on Sunday, but it is unknown if alcohol was a factor.

To-date in 2013, there have been 54 traffic deaths in Minnesota, down from 64 at this time last year.

In the last five years, 651 people were killed in drunken driving crashes. Each year, nearly 30,000 people are arrested for DWI and one in seven Minnesota drivers has a DWI on record.