Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney, Assemblyman Steve Stern (D-Dix Hills), and Senator Chris Ryan (D-Syracuse) are presenting a Legislative Symposium on Drugged Driving on December 10 at Touro University in Manhattan, to educate legislators and the public about the need to align New York State’s laws with science, and base drugged driving enforcement on the driver’s condition rather than whether the drug that the driver is on, is on a statutory list.
Ryan and Stern are the sponsor and co-sponsor of the “Deadly Driving Bill” (S.6485c and A.3981c), respectively. It is among several bills that seek to eliminate the list restriction. Such legislation is on the books in 46 states; in New York, there are 96 co-sponsors for the bill; petitions supporting this legislation collected 4,000 signatures.
The myths that drivers will be arrested for things like drinking coffee or for allergic reactions if there is no list will be dispelled by the experience of other states like California that do not have a drugged driving list. The concerns that there will be disparate policing of minority drivers unless drugged driving is limited to a list will be addressed. The symposium will explore the role of toxicology and the scientific fact that a list limitation is not supported, the utilization of roadside oral fluid screening, the reasons for the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) 2023 safety recommendation that would result in the list’s elimination and the benefits of providing treatment to arrested drivers before they crash and kill.
The experience of impaired driving victims will be presented, including the discussion of a recent crash involving a driver alleged to be impaired by unlisted nitrous oxide. The driver struck and injured DOT road workers in a work zone.
“It is common sense that all substance-impaired drivers are dangerous, whether the driver is drinking alcohol, taking fentanyl or huffing nitrous oxide,” Tierney said. “Laws that only stop some of those drivers leave everyone in danger of an unforeseeable, life-changing crash. Random, innocent people pay the price for a law that does not work. It’s past time to fix it.”
“Drugged driving is a statewide public safety issue that demands statewide legislative action. I strongly support the Deadly Driving Bill to modernize our laws and give police and prosecutors stronger tools to keep our families safe,” said Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. “I’m proud to stand with DA Tierney, Senator Ryan, Assembly Member Stern, and all of our community leaders pushing for the passage of this bill this coming session.”
“Drivers cannot get behind the wheel if they are impaired by alcohol or any type of drug because they risk the lives of other drivers and pedestrians, as well as their own,” said Bronx DA Darcel D. Clark. “Passing this legislation will give us more tools to hold dangerous drivers accountable and ultimately make our streets safer.”
“Drunk and drugged driving is an ongoing epidemic that annually claims over 10,000 lives a year across the United States and New York is no exception”, said Darrin Grondel, senior vice president of Traffic Safety at the Foundation For Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (FAAR). “New York State can, and should be doing more to combat these troubling statistics and align themselves with the rest of the country by broadening the scope of drugged driving to include all impairing substances and supporting proven countermeasures to make New York roadways safer for everyone.”
The Suffolk County DA’s office has been working with the New York legislature since 2022 to create a new law that fixes the drugged driving loopholes, applies the best practices and science, and addresses the concerns raised by individual legislators. The proposed bills build on New York’s existing impaired driving statutes that require substance use screening, assessment and treatment, behavior modification, driver re-training and supervision. Everyone will be safer when all impaired drivers – regardless of what is impairing them – can be stopped and rehabilitated.
The proposed legislation codifies multiple safeguards, including roadside oral fluid drug screening and expanded toxicology testing. Specially trained officers and drug recognition evaluations will record the physical effects of the substances. Scientifically supported, actual impairment is still required, and body-worn cameras will record driver appearance, behavior, the physical effects, as well as the police interaction with the driver. There is no expansion of police powers or car stops. The bill also provides for a medical affirmative defense, a data report to study the racial and demographic equity of implementation of the new law, and a five-year sunset clause.
As a starting point, drugged driving arrest data from the Division of Criminal Justice Services shows that data from five years of drugged driving enforcement has not disproportionately affected minority drivers, with approximately 70% to 75% of those arrested being white.
Drug-related driving fatalities increased 33% in the five years ending in 2022. There was an 87% increase in drivers in fatal crashes testing positive for at least one “listed” drug between 2013 and 2022. These numbers undercount drugged driving as they do not include drugs that are not on the list or that were not tested for. Thus, drugged driving is an under-reported, self-concealing crime. There is no system for counting arrests that could not be made, or dismissals based on the drug not being on a list. And dismissed cases are sealed, preventing review of the evidence of impairment underlying an arrest.
In the midst of a drug use crisis, only 13% of impaired driving arrests in 2022 were for any drug(s). Test refusals doubled to 22% between 2018 and 2022, according to the Institute of Traffic Safety Management and Research (ITSMR). The NTSB stated during the 2023 Assembly public hearing that only 53.7% of fatally injured drivers in New York had a drug test result in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, equating to not knowing whether the other 46.3% of drivers were impaired.
The statistics confirm what anyone who drives in New York already knows. Our roadways, especially those on Long Island, are dangerous. According to ITSMR, 66% of all fatal and personal injury drugged driving crashes occurred between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Registration for the event is mandatory and can be done here.