New York must close drugged driving loopholes
Each day we enter the driver’s side door on our motor vehicles, we make the decision to operate this heavy, dangerous machine and trust that our fellow drivers are following the rules of the road and making safe choices behind the wheel of a car. Unfortunately, our numbers tell us otherwise.
In 2023, our felony Vehicular Crimes Bureau took in 302 cases and our Local Courts Bureau took in an additional 936 misdemeanor DWIs. That means there were 1,238 vehicular-related arrests in 2023 alone, not including speeding tickets and traffic violations. The scariest part? These are only the people who were caught.
Our roads are not safe. In the state of New York, there are loopholes in the Vehicle and Traffic Law that unrealistically limit drugged driving charges to drugs on a list, making it “legal” to drive high on everything else. It is time for New York state legislators to close these loopholes by passing the Deadly Driving Bill.
The bill corrects many oversights that currently exist in the Vehicle and Traffic Law but primarily allows police to arrest obviously impaired drugged drivers regardless of whether the impairing substance is named or on a list. New York is one of the last four states in the country using a list that does not mirror new and emerging impairing substances and synthetic drugs.
Impaired is impaired. Dangerous is dangerous. Because a drug is not defined on a list does not make it safe. I join traffic safety advocates, criminal justice professionals, public health organization and family members who have lost loved ones to drugged driving, to urge the state Legislature to support the passage of this law to close the dangerous loopholes of drugged driving.
The Deadly Driving Bill is not a political issue, it is a roadway safety issue, which is why it includes sponsors from both parties. Without the change in the law, my office is unable to prosecute cases involving drugged drivers based on the specific substance found in their system. This technicality means that we cannot find justice for victims in these avoidable, deadly crashes. This also means that those who are abusing these undefined substances get behind the wheel of a vehicle without fear of repercussion, although they are risking the lives of everyone on the road.
This is a common sense bipartisan bill supported by law enforcement and treatment providers throughout New York State.
Simply put, this legislation will save lives.
Sandra Doorley has served as Monroe County district attorney since 2012. She is past president of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York.