The Suffolk County DA’s Office is Leading “Days of Action” This Week in Albany with the Coalition to Protect New Yorkers from Drugged Driving to Pass the Bill. Tierney said, “The deadly driving bill must be passed immediately before the budget-shortened legislative session ends.”
The bill would close the dangerous loophole that prohibits the prosecution of obviously impaired drivers unless the drug the driver used can be named on a statutory list.
New York is one of only four states that ties drugged driving to a list and the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that the state remove this restriction in 2023.
“I have seen the devastation that drugged driving has caused innocent families on New York’s roads,” said Tierney. “I am dedicating the resources of my office to close these loopholes because everyone, from every community, in every corner of this state deserves to be safe.”
Members of the coalition, which includes the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York (DAASNY), the National Alliance to Stop Impaired Driving/Responsibility.org, MADD, STOP-DWI, AAA, law enforcement agencies including the Sheriff’s Association, traffic safety organizations, drug treatment providers and physicians– met with legislators all week to dispel myths surrounding the bill and push for immediate passage.
Opposition claims that cannabis legalization is threatened by the bill are false. The bill has no impact whatsoever on cannabis. New York has been prosecuting cannabis-impaired drivers for 59 years. The Deadly Driving Bill does not change anything in that process.
The bill establishes a safety net of the best, scientifically supported procedures and training and integrates New York’s body worn camera program. The bill includes robust safeguards:
·A five-year period of study and review of the law’s implementation before it becomes permanent.
·Medical affirmative defense provisions.
·Integration with body-worn camera programs.
·Yearly legislative reporting to monitor enforcement equity.
To address racial equity in traffic enforcement in New York State, a five-year look-back revealed that roughly 70 to 75% of drivers that were arrested for drugged driving were white, 11 to 14% were black and 9 to 11% were Hispanic.
“New York, once a national leader in impaired driving prevention, must recognize that the loophole in this law is allowing visibly impaired drivers to avoid arrest and prosecution,” said Kelly Poulsen, Senior Vice President for Government Relations with Responsibility.org.
Drugged driving fatalities have skyrocketed. Behind every statistic is a devastated family from every community across the state. And every crash represents a failure of the state to keep roadway users safe. It is a public safety and public health issue.
Drivers who are high on substances like bromazolam (known as street Xanax), nitazines, xylazine, (“tranq” - the animal tranquilizer), propofol (the anesthetic that killed Michael Jackson) Dust-Off, amanita muscaria mushrooms, kratom, any of the unlisted synthetic marijuanas or chemically changed Mollies cannot currently be prosecuted.
And when drugged drivers are not stopped, there is no intervention, treatment, assessment, supervision or behavior modification to stop drivers before they crash and kill.
New York was the first state to prohibit drunk driving in 1910. The offense, known as “common law DWI,” does not rely on a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test. It does not require law enforcement to name the type of alcohol consumed by the driver. It does not matter whether the impairment is caused by wine, beer or liquor.
The charge is based entirely on the observations and documentation of actual impairment by law enforcement. The dangerous driver is removed from the road and is not rewarded for refusing a chemical test. Likewise drugged driving arrests already require these observations. It is not a new provision. The only change would be removing the requirement to name the drug on a list. Public safety demands this change.