By: Taylor Bowden / Assistant News Director

A successful initiative to reduce car crashes in Stearns and Benton county is moving its focus to another strip of road.

The Toward Zero Deaths Stearns & Benton Coalition has announced that they are starting a new campaign on Highway 15, an area with high traffic flow. The program has proven its success on Highway 23 in the past with the increase of police presence to encourage safer driving.

According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, between 2016 and 2019 there were over 1,000 crashes reported resulting in four deaths and over 300 injuries in the Project 15 area.

Stearns County Leiutenant Kellan Hemmesch said it is their intent that through education and enforcement they can get people to slow down and pay attention.

According to Hemmesch, aggressive driving is one of the most common behaviors the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office has noticed on Highway 15, especially when the roadway condenses from four lanes to two lanes south of Interstate 94 as drivers speed up to get ahead of the pack.