Drunk-driving patrols in Stearns and Sherburne counties will be beefed-up through September under a new initiative ordered by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

That is because those two counties are among the highest in Minnesota for alcohol-related deaths and serious alcohol-related accident injuries. The other 11 counties are Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Olmsted, Ramsey, Rice, Scott, St. Louis, Washington and Wright.

Sherburne County was added to the list of 13 worst counties for alcohol-related accidents last year, and Itasca County dropped from the list. There are 87 counties in Minnesota. What is alarming to the DPS is that those 13 counties in recent years have accounted for about half of the state’s alcohol-related deaths and injuries.

As part of the enforcement wave through September, officers will use message boards, increased patrols and an ad campaign urging people to avoid driving while impaired, drunk or under the influence of drugs.

In 2010, Minnesota experienced a record-low of alcohol-related deaths – a total of 131. However, despite the decrease, those deaths still accounted for one-third of the total number of traffic deaths that year.

The statistics speak for themselves. From 2008 to 2010, there were 11 alcohol-related traffic deaths in Stearns County and 10 in Sherburne County. Serious alcohol-related traffic injuries were 20 in Stearns County and 15 in Sherburne County. DWI arrests during those years were 3,088 in Stearns and 1,588 in Sherburne. During the two-year period, there was a total of 202 alcohol-related traffic deaths in that 13-county area, a total of 462 alcohol-related crash injuries and 64,229 arrests for DWI.

Compounding the problem of alcohol-related deaths is the failure to use seatbelts. As of Jan. 18, there have been 10 motorist deaths this year in Minnesota. Seven of those 10 people were not buckled up at the time of the accidents, according to the DPS. In the month before, there were 23 motorists killed statewide, and only five were wearing seatbelts. Typically, more than half of all traffic fatalities are cases in which people are not buckled up. In those killed or injured in drunken-driving accidents, the lack of use of seatbelts is more common because many who drive impaired or drunk lack good judgment and neglect to buckle up, according to safety experts.

Minnesota has a new initiative dubbed “Toward Zero Deaths.” All participants, including law enforcement and the public, are working together in four areas to help reduce – and hopefully eliminate roadway deaths and injuries. Those areas are education, enhanced enforcement, highway engineering and improved emergency-trauma response.