Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland) was today joined by the family of drunk driving victim Burton Greene, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and Westchester County District Attorney’s Office in calling for tough national standards on minimum penalties for drunk driving repeat offenders, including ignition interlock devices. 

“We have made tremendous progress in reducing drunk driving deaths,” said Lowey, “but there is still much more we can do to keep unsafe drivers off the road.  Congress is due to reauthorize the federal transportation bill this year, and it must contain strong minimum standards for repeat drunk driving offenders, including ignition interlock devices and other technology that prevents impaired drivers from operating a vehicle.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2010, almost one out of every three vehicle fatalities involved a drunk driver.  In New York, 364 of 1,200 traffic fatalities involved a drunk driver.  According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), people who have previous drunk driving convictions make up approximately one-third of drunk drivers.

“Because of a repeat offender, my children know their grandpa only through photos, stories about him, and visits to the cemetery,” said Lisa Heller, daughter of Burton Greene.  “Because of a repeat offender, my father was robbed of the pleasure of knowing and loving my girls.  We are grateful to Congresswoman Nita Lowey for her efforts to pass the Burton H. Greene Memorial Act in memory of a remarkable man who loved life and touched countless lives.”

Carole Sears, President of the Westchester County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), said “Ignition interlocks work.  The fact is that every driver in every state should be protected from drunk drivers.”

States make their own laws regarding traffic safety and penalties, but the federal government has authority to enforce minimum standards.  Following the death of Burton Greene in Scarsdale in 1997 at the hands of a repeat drunk driver, Congresswoman Lowey successfully led the effort requiring states to enact a minimum standard of .08 Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) to receive federal transportation funding.  All fifty states enacted a .08 BAC standard as a result.

The Burton Greene Higher-Risk Impaired Driver Act, which Lowey last introduced in 2003, included both incentives and sanctions to get states to enact laws targeting high-risk drivers convicted of repeat offenses or a BAC above .15, as well as minimum standards for penalties.  The last major transportation reauthorization in 2005 included incentives for states to enact higher-risk driver laws and increased penalties for repeat offenders.

In the upcoming transportation reauthorization, Lowey is working to preserve programs and penalties aimed at higher-risk drivers, including the use of ignition interlock devices to reduce repeat offenses by preventing impaired drivers from operating their vehicles.

Just as the National Restaurant Association, led at the time by Herman Cain, opposed stronger drunk driving standards when Lowey established a .08 BAC standard in 2000, the American Beverage Institute is fighting to remove existing incentives for states to enact ignition interlock laws, and opposes Lowey’s effort to require states to enact ignition interlock laws.

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