How often do wrong-way crashes occur on Minnesota roadways?
MINNEAPOLIS -- A wrong-way crash on an interstate highway in the east metro early Thursday left two drivers dead and a 3-year-old gravely injured.
It's not the only recent deadly wrong-way crash on Minnesota roads. Earlier this month, a Wisconsin woman was killed and a 19-year-old from St. Louis Park suffered life-threatening injuries in a head-on crash in Pine County.
According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, wrong-way driving was cited as a contributing factor in 330 crashes in 2021, the most recent year in which data was available. That's up slightly from 2020, when 324 crashes had wrong-way driving as a contributing factor.
Of the 2021 crashes, 25 were fatal, 155 caused injury and 150 resulted in property damage only. In 2020, 25 were fatal, 139 caused injury and 160 caused damage only.
Last year, the Minnesota State Patrol told WCCO the best thing a driver can do if they see a wrong-way driver is to pull over, call 911 and stay alert.
