A perhaps more promising element in Governor Pataki’s speech was his pledge to propose legislation that would eliminate the notorious problems prosecutors in New York have had going after criminally negligent drivers (see MTR #436). According to the Daily News, the governor’s legislative package will:

· Remove district attorneys’ burden to prove criminal negligence when a driver using drugs or alcohol seriously injures or kills someone or violates traffic laws.

· Give consecutive sentences to drivers who kill or seriously injure more than one person.

· Increase the strongest prison terms for deadly hit-and-run drivers from four to seven years. Licenses would automatically be suspended for drivers who flee the scene of a fatal crash.

· Go after unlicensed drivers by requiring them to be fingerprinted, making it tougher to get new licenses under phony names.

· Revoke licenses of drivers who break traffic laws and kill or seriously injure another person in the process.

A Daily News investigation last fall found that in 580 NYC cases of pedestrian fatality from 2000 to 2002, only 80 of the drivers were charged with serious crimes. Prosecutors followed the report with calls for stronger laws. The News’ work on the subject was spurred when Giulia Lewis was killed in Queens by a driver who crossed a double yellow line. The driver was not charged. 

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