MANKATO — Put the phones away, folks.
On Wednesday, law enforcement agencies from across Minnesota saturated Highway 169 in a high-visibility crackdown on distracted driving, launching a month-long campaign aimed at reducing crashes along one of the state’s most dangerous roadways for inattentive drivers.
The April “Drop the Distraction” initiative combines enforcement, education and outreach efforts led by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Office of Traffic Safety in partnership with local, county and state agencies. Highway 169 will be a point of focus due to its higher-than-average rate of distraction-related crashes.
Annette Larson, state Toward Zero Deaths program and operations director, said the campaign is a statewide effort impacting every county and includes both enforcement and education strategies. She said the state has expanded its outreach through the Impact Teen Driver program, introduced in 2023, which focuses on reducing distracted and reckless driving among students.
Larson reported the program has reached more than 10,000 students statewide and includes partnerships with schools to improve awareness and decision-making among teen drivers and passengers.
“Taking your eyes off the road or your hands off the steering wheel presents the obvious risks. Activities that take our mind off our roadway also are just as risky,” she said.
Distracted driving includes any activity that diverts attention from the road, including phone use, eating, adjusting music, interacting with passengers or daydreaming. Larson noted that interacting with a phone while driving at highway speeds is comparable to traveling the length of a football field without looking at the road.
Agencies across the state identified Highway 169 as a key corridor for increased enforcement based on crash data, said southern Minnesota law enforcement liaison Scott McConkey. He said law enforcement agencies from the Twin Cities metro area, north central Minnesota and southern Minnesota coordinated to extend enforcement efforts along the entire highway corridor from the Canadian border to Iowa. McConkey said the goal for April 1 is zero crashes on Highway 169.
McConkey also said the distracted driving campaign has expanded in recent years from a shorter enforcement period to a month-long initiative, reflecting the growing scope of the problem saying, “too many drivers think they can multitask.”
According to Jeremy Brennan, Blue Earth County Chief Deputy, Minnesota recorded approximately 33,000 distracted driving crashes over the past five years, including 21 fatalities and 159 serious injuries in 2025.
Brennan said Minnesota’s hands-free law allows voice commands or single-touch activation and prohibits holding a phone while driving. First-time violations typically result in fines of about $120 plus court fees, while repeat offenses exceed $300 and can significantly increase insurance costs. Officers commonly observe drivers texting, using social media apps or watching videos while behind the wheel, Brennan added.
“It feels like they’re (phones) embedded in teenager’s hands, and so, yes, I think there’s a challenge there to show that the cell phone has to go in a glove box,” said Mankato Director of Public Safety, Jeremy Clifton.
Clifton said the campaign reinforces that drivers have the singular responsibility of focusing on driving. Any distraction, particularly cell phone use, reduces safety and increases risk for both drivers and others on the road.
Since last August, the Mankato Department of Public Safety has been using a newly funded pickup truck designed to improve enforcement visibility. He said the elevated height of the vehicle allows officers to better observe drivers inside vehicles, particularly for detecting cell phone use and inattentive driving.
The truck is one of approximately a dozen deployed statewide. About 80% of the truck’s cost was covered through grant funding, with the remaining portion funded by the department, said Commander Adam Gray. He said officers frequently observe drivers using phones at stoplights, holding phones to their ears while driving or using devices due to non-functioning Bluetooth systems.
“Is it more important than your life? That’s what people need to ask themselves, because that split second of distracted driving, we all know crashes happen in a moment and nobody expects it, and that split second of inattention can be the game-changer,” Gray said.
He also noted instances of drivers using earbuds or headphones, which can limit awareness of surrounding traffic, including emergency vehicles.
“Unfortunately the numbers are trending up versus down,” said Officer Chad Honetschlager, noting Mankato police issued 305 distracted driving citations during last year’s campaign and observed an increase in violations.
Larson has been working at Toward Zero Deaths for 12 years now and said the April campaign will include continued enforcement, school outreach and business partnerships aimed at reducing distracted driving and preventing crashes.
“It’s all about changing our traffic safety culture,” she said. “It’s the education piece, it’s the enforcement piece, it’s the engineering piece, it’s EMS and post-crash care and all of us working together to reduce those fatalities.”