St Paul (Learfield News Service) - Citations for texting while driving are up in Minnesota for the sixth straight year.

Law enforcement officials statewide issued 9,545 tickets in 2018--a 30-percent increase over the previous year. Since 2012, texting citations in Minnesota have gone up by 459-percent.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike Hanson says there were at least 27 distraction-related deaths on Minnesota roads last year. So far this year, two people have been killed in distracted-driving-related crashes.

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