A worrying rise in texting behind the wheel saw more than 9,500 drivers issued tickets in Minnesota last year.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says that 9,545 tickets were handed out to drivers for texting last year, compared to 7,357 in 2017.
That represents a 30 percent jump from the year before, and a massive 459 percent increase from 2012, when just 1,707 tickets were handed out.
Already this year, the DPS says two people have been killed in distracted-driving related crashes, one of which involved the use of a cellphone.
In 2018, there were 27 distraction-related fatal crashes, up from 25 a year before.