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Governor Paterson will ask legislators to pass "Leandra's Law," which would make driving drunk with a passenger under 16 a felony. Last month, 11-year-old Leandra Rosado was killed when her friend's allegedly drunk mother crashed on the West Side Highway. Governor Paterson's spokeswoman said, "Gov. Paterson is committed to stricter penalties for drunk drivers with children in the car, which is why he introduced a program bill on this issue on Aug. 13." The Daily News notes, "Though Paterson announced the bill in August, no one in the Legislature has even introduced it."
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Um, how about we just make driving drunk a felony? Or is driving drunk okay as long as you don't bring any kids?
Yeah, it should be a felony. That said, I'm not so sure who the risk of prosecution would affect someone willing to risk death.....
If anything, the key is more *widespread* enforcement, not harsher enforcement. Plus societal pressure and change of attitude.
How about the kids (and other people) who aren't actually in the car with the drunk driver? Don't they get some consideration?
click to support the bill via an online petition
http://www.leandraslaw.info/index.php
Will someone please explain why an 11-year old's life is any more valuable than a 21, 31, 41,...111 year-old's life to merit a separate and special sentence?
Or is this another of Paterson's feeble attempt at furthering his political career by introducing a law named after a dead child.
Who would vote against such a named bill? No one.
Cheap Political Trick 101: Name your bill after a dead child and watch it sail through the legislature.
So, Patersob exploits her death and gains cheap and easy political points.
Mr. Magoo,
It't time to give it up.
The law itself was initiated by her father, not a politician and someone gave him the idea of naming it after his daughter. An 11 year old's death isn't more valuable than anyone else's. No one is trying to exploit her death, just trying to stop this epidemic from growing as it has, at an alarming rate, not just in NY, but other states. We need to push for stricter laws and also more surveillance/check points to be done on highways and city streets. A law like this should have been in effect long ago. The drinking limit should be lowered. Penalties towards the driver should also be extended to victims that are not in the car as well, innocent bystanders. Whether a person is driving alone or with someone, they should get a harsh sentence if found to be intoxicated even without incident.
We have to get to the bottom of why this is happening. Why are more women getting behind the wheel? The death penalty should be enforced. Take a life, lose your own. Jail time whether it's one year or ten, is not deterring these people from taking other people's lives into their own hands. One day of jail would be too much for me. They seem to have a death wish, but are taking the cowardly way out instead of just ending their own life.
I support this law, but don't see this epidemic lessening anytime soon. Family members need to get help for those that are alcoholics and not just hope that nothing serious will happen. The signs are always present beforehand, but no one takes them seriously.