The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety last week released final 2011 drunken driving data that is highlighted by 111 drunken driving deaths, marking a 40 percent reduction in such deaths from 185 in 2002.

Despite progress, drunken driving remains a top public safety threat according to DPS officials. Each year, drunken driving crashes account for a bulk — one-third — of the state’s total traffic deaths. The drunken driving problem is underscored in that 29,257 Minnesotans were arrested for DWI in 2011, one in seven drivers has a DWI on his or her record, and 1,265 Minnesotans have 10 or more DWIs.

In Minnesota during 2007–2011, 651 people were killed in drunken driving crashes — an average of 130 deaths annually.

During this same period 166,962 motorists were arrested for DWI.

“The progress we’ve made to limit drunk driving deaths is far eclipsed by the tragedies created by this behavior every year,” says Jean Ryan, impaired driving programs coordinator at DPS. “Enforcement and education efforts are leading the change in behavior, but it takes everyone’s committed responsibility to stop these preventable deaths.”

In addition to enforcement and education, Ryan says innovative initiatives and legislation are supporting the movement against impaired driving:

The state’s ignition interlock program provides for sober and legal driving for DWI offenders; more than 4,000 motorists are using interlock in Minnesota. Repeat DWI offenders, as well as first-time offenders arrested at 0.16 and above alcohol-concentration level, must use ignition interlock to regain legal driving privileges or face at least one year without a driver’s license. Offenders with three or more offenses are required to use interlock for three to six years, or they will never regain driving privileges.

Other measures include DWI courts, plate impoundments, safe cab programs and initiatives like Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.

DWI Courts are dedicated to changing the behavior of hardcore offenders using a cooperative approach that includes all members of the criminal justice system.

Plate Impoundment removes the license plates from a vehicle until the person driving the vehicle is legally licensed to drive.

2011 statistics

—368 people died in traffic crashes in Minnesota, and 111 (30 percent) were crashes involving drunken drivers.

—86 (77 percent) of the 111 drunken driving deaths occurred outside the Twin Cities’ metro — Greater Minnesota accounted for 236 fatal crashes, of which 33 percent involved a drunken driver.

—29,257 motorists were arrested for DWI, translating to 81 DWI arrests a day. There were 29,918 arrests in 2010; 32,756 arrests in 2009; 35,736 in 2008; and 38,635 in 2007. The Twin Cities’ metro area and the 80-county Greater Minnesota each accounted for about half of all 2011 DWI arrests.

—1 in 7 seven current Minnesota drivers (570,191) has a DWI on record, and 1 in 17 has two or more DWIs. In the state, 1,265 Minnesotans have 10 or more DWIs.

—40 percent of those who incur one violation will incur a second within 15 years of their first arrest.

—Males accounted for 73 percent of all DWIs.

—Motorists ages 20–29 represented 42 percent of DWI arrests. One in 15 of the arrests were motorists under age 21.

—59 percent of violators were first-time offenders, yet 12,103 (41 percent) had at least one prior DWI at the time of arrest.

—50 percent of the DWI arrests were made on Saturdays and Sundays.