The next time some South Dakota politician bloviates about South Dakota values, ask him/her why our vaunted values of faith, family, and freedom don’t keep us from putting the freedom of our faithful family and friends at risk by driving drunk more than other folks:
Data from the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer shows 30,051 people were arrested for driving under the influence in South Dakota between 2021 and 2025. Of those arrests, 8,220 involved women.
A study released by Las Vegas-based Ladah Injury & Car Accident Lawyers found South Dakota ranks second nationwide for the highest rate of DUI arrests among women, trailing only New Jersey.
…A similar study done by Forbes and another by Alcohol.org found South Dakota has the highest amount of DUI arrests per capita [Hannah Hutter, “Sobriety Checkpoints Set for 16 Counties amid Rising Female DUI Arrest Rate,” KOTA-TV, 2025.12.26].
Drunk drivers killed 44 people in South Dakota in 2022. Every one of those deaths would have been prevented by the application of commonsense values: Don’t drink and drive. Don’t get drunk in the first place.
But evidently South Dakota values falter when we get thirsty.