Memorial Day begins the "100 deadliest days of summer"

(ABC 6 News) – The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety said Monday that Minnesota is officially in what is known as the "100 deadliest days of summer."

"In the summer months the roadways are nice and people are always in a hurry to get to where they want to go," Sargent Troy Christianson with the Minnesota State Patrol said.

The 100 deadliest days are between Memorial Day and Labor Day on Sept. 5. The state patrol said they see more people travel on Minnesota’s roads during this time and they also see an increase in high-speed crashes.

"Speeds do increase in the summer months. Last week we had a car at 157 miles an hour going through Rochester," Christianson said.

Last year at this time Minnesota had around 150 fatal crashes. This year so far the state is at around 130. The state patrol says while we are down from last year, these numbers are still much higher than they used to be pre-pandemic.