Citations for texting while driving are up in Minnesota for the sixth straight year. Law enforcement officials statewide issued 9,545 tickets in 2018–a 30-percent increase over the previous year. And since 2012, texting citations have gone up by 459-percent.

Mike Hanson with the Department of Public Safety says there were at least 27 distraction-related deaths on Minnesota roads last year. And so far, this year, two people have already been killed in distracted-driving-related crashes.