DWI/Criminal

September 22, 2021

Why Hasn’t NYC Implemented Its New Reckless Driving Law?

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

A man recklessly driving in Brooklyn with a suspended license and an arrest record has lead to the recent death of a 3-month-old baby and this now has people outraged and questioning why Mayor DeBlasio never implemented a reckless driving law to keep these unlawful drivers off the road.

The man suspected of killing a three-month-old baby in a reckless driving incident in Brooklyn earlier this month had a suspended licensed, 91 speeding tickets, and an arrest on his record for driving without a valid license, according to a report by StreetsBlog. The 28-year-old driver, Tyrik Mott, was also “racing the wrong way down Gates Avenue” when the incident happened, and was arrested for “carjacking and robbery” but not the reckless driving incident, which resulted in the infant’s death and other pedestrians’ injuries. As one expert told StreetsBlog, however, he was able to remain on the streets because “there’s no legal mechanism” to keep drivers like him off the road. Continue reading

August 10, 2021

As Impaired Driving Rises in NYC, Enforcement Drops

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

A report by the New York City Independent Budget Office found that injurious or fatal DWI crashes are rising.

A new report by the New York City Independent Budget Office found that even though impaired driving arrests have decreased in NYC in recent years, there’s been an increase in fatality- or injury-causing crashes by impaired drivers. According to the report, “DWI crashes with injuries or fatalities” increased from a total of 942 in 2015 to a total of 1,234 in 2019. In the same period, arrests for impaired driving declined 40% between 2013 and 2019, from 9,879 to 5,339. Continue reading

June 15, 2021

NYC Devotes $39 Million to End Car Crashes on McGuinness Boulevard

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

After years of deadly car crashes on Brooklyn’s McGuinness Boulevard, New York City has finally committed to redesigning the thoroughfare.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has committed to carving out nearly $40 million from the city’s budget to redesign Brooklyn’s McGuinness Boulevard, site of eleven pedestrian deaths and three cyclist deaths since 1995. According to StreetsBlog, a single 1.25-mile stretch of McGuinness Boulevard, from the Pulaski Bridge to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, has been home to 1,548 car crashes since 2013, injuring “40 cyclists, 59 pedestrians, and 236 motorcyclists.” A deadly crash last month killed schoolteacher Matthew Jensen near the BQE’s entry ramp; the driver of the hit-and-run has not yet been found.

April 27, 2021

New York Safe Streets Activists Propose New Road Safety Legislation

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

Activists are campaigning to get the Crash Victims Rights and Safety Act passed this legislative session in Albany.

Earlier this month a group of safe-streets lobbying groups in New York released the Crash Victims Rights and Safety Act, a collection of eight pieces of legislation “that will better support victims of traffic violence and make streets safer across New York State at a moment when traffic fatalities and speeding are both on the rise,” according to advocacy group Transportation Alternatives. The lobbying group, which includes Families for Safe Streets and and other organizations, is campaigning for the passage of these eight bills this year.

The eight bills in the Crash Victims Rights and Safety Act include the following, according to StreetsBlog NYC:

December 29, 2020

Federal Data Shows Increase In Car Crashes, Injuries

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

Federal data shows increasing car crashes and crash-related injuries.

Newly released federal data indicates that in 2019, vehicular crashes and injuries rose while pedestrian and cyclist fatalities fell. StreetsBlog, a website covering transportation issues and pedestrian safety, suggests that this data reflects “that doctors are getting better at saving lives after collisions while our streets remain as dangerous as ever.”

According to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2019 there was a total of 36,096 deaths resulting from vehicle crashes, down from 36,835 in 2018. There were 630 fewer passenger vehicle occupant fatalities; 169 fewer pedestrian fatalities; 25 fewer pedalcyclist fatalities; 568 fewer alcohol-impaired driving fatalities; and 813 fewer urban fatalities. Continue reading

October 12, 2020

Work Zone Fatalities Up During Pandemic

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

Even as overall traffic levels fell over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of crashes and fatalities at work zones has risen, according to a recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Workers patching potholes, striping roads, directing traffic or building highways are more at risk than ever,” it states, “as drivers zoom through work zones or are preoccupied chatting or texting on their phones.”

These trend in spite of a steep reduction in vehicle miles traveled: 40% in April 2020 (compared to April 2019) and 26% in May, per federal data. The report goes on to state that work zone crews continue to deal with reckless motorists even as traffic volume resumes. It cites a series of instances in Michigan, in which “vehicles struck three county employees in a state contractor” over the course of a single week, killing two of those victims. Pew stresses that motorists and passengers also suffer the consequences of reckless driving, noting that of the 672 fatal work zone crashes with 755 deaths in 2018, only 124 of those deaths were among the work zone crews. Of the 123,000 work zone crashes in 2018, it said, 45,000 people suffered injuries.

October 10, 2020

Uptick in Unsafe, Intoxicated Driving During Covid-19 Pandemic

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

Data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this month show an increase in unsafe driving by young men. The data specifically shows an uptick in reckless behavior by motorists in rural areas of the country, as well as increased use of drugs and alcohol, after the Covid-19 pandemic began. These trends are part of a broader spike in motorist fatalities, even as there were fewer cars on the road amidst lockdowns and other travel restrictions.

According to a recent analysis by Car and Driver, the NHTSA began studying the role of drugs and alcohol in motorist fatalities in the fall of 2019, testing blood drawn in morgues or emergency rooms for alcohol and various narcotics. Over the course of the pandemic, the NHTSA determined that “the number of people who died who tested positive for alcohol went from 21.3 percent before March 16 to 26.9” by mid-July. Cannabinoids rose 21.4% to 31.2%, and opioids 7.6% to 12.9%. The data reveals that 64.7 percent of fatally injured motorists tested positive “for at least one active drug compared to 50. percent before the public health emergency began.” Men were found to be more likely to test positive than women, according to Car and Driver, and there were higher rates of positivity during the week than on weekends.

October 7, 2020

Federal Data Show Increase in Traffic Fatalities

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a division of the Department of Transportation, has released sobering data about US traffic deaths. According to NHTSA analyses, although traffic fatalities were down in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, the fatality rate itself has gone up. Specifically, overall traffic deaths have declined 3.3% (a total of 8,870 deaths), while the fatality rate has increased to 1.42 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles, a jump of 30% over Q2 2019’s numbers.

As the NHTSA notes, the second quarter of 2020 was “the height of the Covid-19 public health emergency,” during which overall traffic volume in the US “decreased by more than 16% in the first six months of 2020.” The agency suggests that the increased fatality rate might mean that while there are fewer drivers on the road, the drivers who remain are taking more risks. The NHTSA’s Deputy Administrator, James Owens, said in a statement: “Road safety is always our top priority, and while we are encouraged by today’s reports showing a continued decline in total fatalities in 2019 and into the first half of 2020, we are concerned by the trend since April showing an increased fatality rate… Now, more than ever, we should be watching ourselves for safe driving practices and encouraging others to do the same. It’s irresponsible and illegal to drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol, taking risks not only with one’s own life, but with the lives of others.”

September 24, 2020

NY DWI Crackdown Yields 3,262 Tickets

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

From August 19 until September 7, New York law enforcement agencies carried out Governor Andrew Como’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, in which they ramped up enforcement on impaired driving. The city released the results of that campaign on September 18. Throughout the entirety of the action, law enforcement “issued 3,262 tickets for impaired driving,” according to a release by the Governor’s Office, as well as “116,292 tickets for other vehicle and traffic law violations, such as speeding and distracted driving.”

The “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” is coordinated in part by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, or GTSC, which carries it out several times each year in an effort “to reduce alcohol and other drug-related traffic crashes.” The press release cites research by the Traffic Safety Management and Research at the University at Albany’s Rockefeller College showing that campaigns like this one have reduced DWI-involved fatalities by “more than 19 percent from 2010 to 2019.”

September 19, 2020

New York DUI Bill in Legislative Limbo

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

Alcohol impaired driving accounted for 32.6% of driving fatalities in New York in 2018, according to the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, and 28.8% of driving fatalities in the United States that same year. In an effort to combat alcohol-impaired driving, last year New York state legislators introduced bill #A07494A, which would amend state laws concerning the state’s ignition interlock program. Unfortunately, the bill has seen little progress, and today remains in committee.

Ignition interlock devices are basically in-car breathalyzers. Drivers must blow into a mouthpiece and register a compliant blood alcohol level before they can use their vehicle. The New York State Assembly bill “Describes the role of the ignition interlock monitor as well as requirements of people charged with violations that require the installation of an ignition interlock device to comply with court orders.” Among other things, it would require that people convicted of “misdemeanor-level DWI be prohibit- ed from operating any vehicle without a functioning ignition interlock device” for at least twelve months. It would require regular use of the device, offer a process for people who demonstrate good cause to not install the device, and clarify that failure to install such a device or tampering with a device would constitute a violation of an offender’s “condition of sentence, probation, or conditional charge,” among other provisions.

In New York, as LegalScoops pointed out in a recent post, ignition interlock technology goes back to Leandra’s Law, signed in 2009 by Governor David Peterson after an 11 year old child died in an alcohol-impaired driving accident. The law made alcohol-impaired driving driving with a person below 15 years of age a Class E felony, and provided, among other sentencing guidelines, for the mandatory use of an ignition interlock device for six months for any individual sentenced for Driving While Intoxicated. Eleven years later, as LegalScoops notes, alcohol-impaired driving remains a significant cause of death in New York and nationally. And as the Assembly’s “justification” section in the bill’s webpage explains, ignition interlock technology remains ill-used: