And Minnesota has been unable to stop them. The Pioneer Press examined the reasons this spring, as Minnesota legislators debate changes in the state's drunken driving laws. About 30,000 Minnesotans are arrested on DWI charges every year. That's more arrests per licensed driver than anywhere else in the United States. But still they account for only a fraction of drunken drivers on the road, law enforcement officials say.
State troopers patrol vast stretches of roadway, and at times rural highways have no police at all.
Officers get bogged down with more serious crimes and pass up DWI arrests, impounding drivers' vehicles as a stopgap solution. Drunken drivers who are arrested have little to fear from the state's laws. Driving drunk is a misdemeanor crime, whether it is the person's first, fifth or 25th offense. Nearly all DWI cases, even those involving the most chronic and serious offenders, are resolved through plea bargains. Officials say heavy caseloads leave them no other choice.