Minnesota, North Dakota prep for busy roads this holiday weekend

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – According to AAA, nearly 71 million people are expected to travel this week. Chances are, many of you will be if you haven’t already.

It’s all hands on deck for law enforcement in Minnesota. They’re keeping an extra eye out for impaired and distracted drivers.

“We hope when we go out, we don’t find anybody. You know, making those poor choices because we want everybody to hear the conversations here than along the roadside. Really the 4th of July holiday should be about making memories and we don’t want to involve bad crashes or anything like that,” said Sgt. Jesse Grabow with the Minnesota State Patrol.

State Patrol says over the last five years, there have been 25 traffic-related deaths on the 4th. That’s more compared to other holidays including the winter ones like Christmas and New Year’s.

”Clear, sunny days, dry roads, it’s one of those things that again, just because the road conditions are in good conditions doesn’t mean you can get laxed on your behaviors when it comes to traffic safety.”

While different states, safety is also the main goal in North Dakota.

“We have a speeding grant that’s going on right now. So we’ll definitely be enforcing speeding but as always, we definitely do whatever we can to deter DUIs and we will be enforcing DUIs whenever we can,” Sgt. Matt Ysteboe with Fargo Police tells Valley News Live.

In North Dakota, a first-offense DUI is considered a Class B misdemeanor. It can lead to a $500 fine if your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is below .16. The higher the BAC, the higher the penalty. Drinking and driving can be more than a penalty to your wallet.

“Making sure that you have a designated driver. We don’t want to see anybody out there getting hurt or getting involved in with some terrible accident from drinking and driving,” added Ysteboe.

For Minnesota, punishment for one’s first DWI can vary. The Department of Public Safety says a typical penalty for a first-time offender is potential jail time and the loss of a license for a minimum of up to 30 days to a year. When factoring costs and legal fees, you could be looking at a price tag as high as $20,000.

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