Serious-injury, fatal crash rates rising on roads of southwest Minnesota
May 16---- The roads of southwestern Minnesota are not living up to the friendly reputation of the people who make the rural area home.
Rates of fatal crashes and of crashes that cause serious injury, per mile driven in the region, exceed the averages for Greater Minnesota overall as well as statewide averages.
Serious-injury and fatal crash numbers are increasing at a greater rate than the rest of the state as well, according to information highlighted at the Southwest Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths conference conducted Wednesday at Prairie's Edge Casino Resort at the Upper Sioux Community.
"Going in the wrong direction in the last few years," said Max Moreland, traffic safety crash data engineer with the
The southwest region showed a 1.14 fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles over the past five years, the highest in the state and well above the statewide rate of 0.75 and also higher than the 0.92 rate for the Greater Minnesota area outside of the eight metropolitan counties. The rates are based on data through 2024.
Moreland said the southwest region has seen big jumps in both fatal and serious-injury crashes on both its state highways and county roads. The Southwest Toward Zero Deaths region includes the counties of Big Stone, Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, McLeod, Meeker, Murray, Pipestone, Redwood, Renville, Swift and Yellow Medicine.
Last year, the region recorded 31 fatalities on its roads. It has experienced 18 so far in 2025.
Statewide, fatal and serious-injury crashes are trending upward as well. The state as a whole recorded at least 479 fatalities on its roads last year, according to preliminary numbers from the state Department of Public Safety. It's recorded 110 deaths already this year, indicating it is likely to exceed a goal set by Toward Zero Deaths of holding the number of deaths in 2025 to 225, according to Moreland.
The information comes as Minnesota soon enters what is known as the 100 busiest and deadly days on its roads, the summer driving period between the Memorial Day and Labor Day holidays.
Fatal crash numbers in the southwest region have bounced around in previous years. The numbers dropped during the COVID pandemic but spiked immediately after traffic volumes returned.
Serious-injury crash numbers have risen steadily. "It almost looks like a staircase going straight up every year," Moreland said while pointing to a graph showing the rise. "It's a problem that is not fixing itself."
The southwest data had some encouraging news. The number of crashes involving motorcycles and speeding were down a little bit, he said.
Safety plans for the region target distracted driving, impaired driving, speeding and intersections as priorities. Around 90% of severe crashes in the region involved some aspect of excess speed or inattentive driving, according to Moreland.
One hundred percent of crashes have at least one of these factors involved: Speed, inattention, intersections, lane departures, impaired driving, and unbelted drivers or passengers, according to the presentation.
Crashes involving impaired drivers, unbelted drivers and intersections have been rising while those involving inattention have held steady and speed-related crashes have declined some.
One of the goals of Toward Zero Deaths is to improve the driving culture, according to Moreland. While safety professionals have long worked to improve individual driver behavior, they will now focus more on changing the culture by leveraging the vast majority of safe drivers as allies in the effort, he said.
Just as societal views toward tobacco use have changed, traffic safety professionals hope to promote positive changes in how driving conduct and practices are viewed, he explained.
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