AP — The deaths of three women in separate traffic accidents brought the toll on Minnesota roads during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to at least eight.
Authorities on Monday released the name of a Sartell woman who died in a two-car accident Saturday near Holdingford. LaDonna Lue Luyben, 49, died at a St. Cloud hospital after the car she was in hit an icy patch, spun sideways and was broadsided by a van.
Kathryn Dianne White, 41, of Brandon was killed Sunday when the pickup truck in which she was a passenger ran off Interstate Highway 94 in central Minnesota’s Stearns County and rolled over, the State Patrol said.
In southern Minnesota, Sandra Miller, 20, of Mauston, Wis., died Sunday afternoon when the car she was driving struck a patch of ice on U.S. Highway 14 just west of Dodge Center, went out of control and was struck broadside when it slid into the path of an oncoming minivan.
Nine people died and 579 were injured last year on Minnesota roads during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. As defined by the State Patrol, the holiday weekend ran from 6 p.m. Wednesday through midnight Sunday.
This year, troopers investigated 530 crashes, made 103 drunken driving arrests and issued 1,405 speeding citations during the holiday weekend.