Chicago DUI lawyer comments on new legislation for DUI with kids in the car

This Chicago DUI lawyer posted here and here about DUI's where children are passengers. Now comes the news of tougher penalties for folks charged with a DUI when children are passengers.

November 18, Albany, NY

New York State would make it a felony to drive while intoxicated with a child in the vehicle and would require first-time convicted drunken drivers to buy a device that prevents them from driving their cars if they have been drinking, under a bill passed by the State Assembly on Tuesday.

The push for harsher drunken-driving penalties follows two recent crashes in New York in which children were killed while traveling with adults who had been drinking.

In July, a Long Island woman drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway in Westchester County and killed eight people, including her 2-year-old daughter and three young nieces. The driver, who also died, had a blood alcohol content of 0.19 percent, more than double the 0.08 percent that qualifies as being intoxicated while driving, and had marijuana in her system.

And in October, an 11-year-old girl, Leandra Rosado, was killed after the mother of one of her friends, who has since been charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated, flipped her car on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan. The new law was named in honor of the girl.

Let me be clear, no one believes that people should drive while drunk and even more so no one believes that children should be placed at risk of harm by riding with a drunk driver, but given all of those agreed beliefs, how does a DUI with a kid passenger occur? Easy, it's the holiday season so the family packs up and heads over to grandma's for the day. Many will join family in watching a football game with a few beers, then move to dinner with some wine, and finally who can resist the coffee or eggnog with a little extra served alongside of dessert. Then the car gets packed, with the kids, and you go home to sleep it off and wake up early for Black Friday. Similar variations of this scenario occur with family weddings, cookouts, and sports outings.

Perhaps the best way to avoid a felony DUI with your own children as passengers, is to avoid any drinking at all if you are going to drive. I do hate to be a party pooper, but the stakes have been raised.