NORWICH – Last month, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a new initiative that will strengthen Department of Motor Vehicles regulations statewide and keep drivers with a history of drug or alcohol related convictions off the road.
The new regulations – which went into effect in late September – will make New York among the toughest states in the country when it comes to drivers who have repeatedly driven while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to a Cuomo press release.
Said the governor, “We are saying ‘enough is enough’ to those who have chronically abused their driving privileges and threatened the safety of other drivers, passengers and pedestrians. This comprehensive effort will make New York safer, by keeping these drivers off our roadways.”
Previously, a driver convicted of multiple alcohol or drug related driving offenses did not permanently lose his or her license. As an example, a driver with three alcohol or drug related driving offenses within a period of four years would lose their license for only five years. And some drivers, stated Cuomo, with as many as six or more alcohol or drug related driving convictions over longer periods of time, still had a license. In fact, the only time a driver truly faced losing their license permanently is when they’d had two alcohol or drug related convictions following separate incidents which resulted in a physical injury, according to the press release.
Colleen Franklin, deputy clerk at the Chenango County DMV, said it’s too early to tell the local impact of the new regulations, but she thinks they will be effective in the long run.
Added Franklin, “It’s really a positive all the way around.”
The new regulations would call for:
• Lifetime record review by the DMV, which would allow the department to review the lifetime record of all drivers who apply to have a license reinstated after a revocation.
• Permanent license revocation for persistently drunk and dangerous drivers, allowing the DMV to deny any application for reinstatement of a license after revocation if the applicant has five or more alcohol or drug related driving convictions in his or her lifetime; or three or more alcohol or drug related driving convictions in the last 25 years plus at least one other serious driving offense during that period, including a fatal crash, driving related penal law conviction, accumulation of 20 or more points assessed for driving violations within the last 25 years, or having two or more driving convictions each worth five points or higher.
• Delayed re-licensing, driving restrictions and interlocks for other drivers with repeated alcohol or drug related driving convictions, allowing the DMV to deny applications for five years beyond their statutory revocation to those who have three or four alcohol or drug related convictions but no serious driving offense in the last 25 years, if the applicant’s license was revoked for an alcohol or drug related offense; or two additional years if the applicant’s license was revoked for a reason other than alcohol or drugs. Any restoration of an applicant’s license following that additional period would be “restricted,” limiting an applicant’s driving to, for example, travel to and from work or medical visits. Those drivers whose revocations stem from an alcohol related offense would require an interlock device on their vehicle for a period of five years.
• End the reductions of mandatory suspension or revocation periods, ensuring that drivers cannot obtain their driving privileges until their full term of suspension or revocation has ended. Currently, repeat offenders whose licenses have been revoked or suspended – for six months or one year – can nevertheless obtain their full driving privileges in as little as seven weeks if they’d completed the DMV’s Drinking Driver Program.
“At one time, the Drinking Driver Program forgave all,” said Franklin. “Some people would get into the program quickly, and seven weeks later they had their license back. It’s good that that will end.”
According to the Cuomo press release, more than 300 are killed and 6,000 injured every year as a result of alcohol related crashes, and crashes involving alcohol are ten times more likely to cause a fatality. As a result of the new DMV regulations, an estimated 20,000 drivers will have their licenses permanently revoked or delayed this year, said Cuomo.