Cass County, which ranked 14th last year, is not on the list this year. Last year, Crow Wing County was ranked the state's eighth deadliest county in terms of alcohol-related traffic crashes,

The deadliest counties for 2008, ranked from 1 to 13, are: Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, St. Louis, Dakota, Wright, Stearns, Rice, Sherburne, Crow Wing, Washington, Blue Earth and Itasca.

Itasca County is new to the list in 2008. Beltrami, Cass and Olmsted counties were included on the list in 2007, but were removed in 2008.

The targeted counties are selected based on the total number of alcohol-related deaths and serious injuries over a three-year period.

Crow Wing is now the 10th deadliest county. According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety, Crow Wing had 18 alcohol-related traffic deaths and 19 alcohol-related serious injuries from 2005-07. The county made 2,027 DWI arrests.

DPS said the state's 13 deadliest counties for impaired driving accounted for nearly half of the state's alcohol-related deaths (272) and serious injuries (663) during 2005-07.

In 2009, Operation NightCAP (nighttime concentrated alcohol patrols) will direct enforcement in the 13 counties.

There were 290 NightCAP enforcement efforts in 2008 resulting in more than 3,000 DWI arrests - one arrest per 17 traffic stops.

From 2004-08, more than 1,320 NightCAP enforcement efforts in the deadliest counties for impaired driving resulted in 11,394 DWI arrests; 74,347 traffic citations; and 172,517 traffic stops.

NightCAP 2004-08 enforcement efforts resulted in one DWI arrest for every 16 traffic stops (2004); 16 traffic stops (2005); 12 traffic stops (2006); 15 traffic stops (2007); and 17 traffic stops (2008).

More than one-half million Minnesotans have a DWI on record, a tally that will unfortunately increase during a December-long, statewide DWI enforcement campaign.

Around 400 Minnesota law enforcement agencies will enhance patrols during the holiday season.

December is one of the deadliest months of the year for impaired driving in Minnesota. In the last three Decembers, 2005-07, 41 motorists were killed in alcohol-related crashes and another 10,553 were arrested for DWI.

During this entire three-year period, alcohol-related crashes accounted for 553 traffic deaths and 1,253 serious injuries - 117,764 motorists were arrested for DWI.

"There is no greater gift to Minnesotans than putting impaired drivers in jail," says Michael Campion, DPS commissioner. "DWI enforcement is necessary to prevent needless tragedies."

Officers will include seat belt enforcement during the effort. Each year, 70 percent of the impaired drivers and their passengers killed in alcohol-related crashes are not buckled up.

The statewide DWI enforcement campaign will be supported by a paid media campaign. The enforcement is a component of the state's cornerstone traffic safety initiative, Toward Zero Deaths (TZD).

TZD focuses on the application of four strategic areas to reduce crashes - enhanced enforcement, engineering improvements, education and effective emergency trauma response.