New York City’s top transportation official on Tuesday urged state lawmakers to pass a bill lowering the state’s DWI limit to .05, saying the state has historically been too slow to act on drunken driving laws.
Ydanis Rodriguez, commissioner of the city Department of Transportation, reiterated Mayor Eric Adams’ support of the measure during a news conference at the state Capitol, which was held by the bill’s sponsors and attended by victims of drunken driving and their family members. The push to lower the state’s DWI limit comes as New York City saw a spike in fatalities from alcohol-related traffic crashes in 2021, when 42 people died.
That was up from the prior three-year average of 27 per year, according to the city. Statewide, about 30% of fatal motor vehicle crashes are alcohol-related, according to New York State Police.
“This is not about going after anyone that wants to have a drink,” Rodriguez said. “If you have a drink, if you want to have a drink, get an Uber, get a taxi, but please don't drink and drive.”
Currently, a driver can be charged with DWI in New York state if they’re operating a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol concentration of at least .08 grams of alcohol per deciliter of blood, or .04 for the driver of a commercial vehicle. A first offense triggers a mandatory license suspension of at least six months. Anyone who registers a .05 through .07 can be charged with driving while ability impaired by alcohol, a lesser charge that carries a license suspension of at least 90 days.
There's a range of penalties for those found to be driving while intoxicated. Drivers who register a BAC of .18 or higher can face an aggravated DWI charge, which carries a max jail sentence of one year. Repeat offenders can face seven years in prison.
Under the bill in Albany, the DWI law would kick in at .05, which would match a recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB first threw its support behind such a limit in 2013, and so far only one state — Utah — has implemented it.
The state measure is sponsored by Queens Sen. John Liu and Brooklyn Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, both Democrats. It has been kicked around Albany in some form since 2013, when the NTSB first threw its support behind a .05 limit.
Liu said he hopes Utah’s experience, which showed a drop in alcohol-related motor-vehicle crashes in the year after its law took effect at the end of 2018, is enough to convince lawmakers to approve it this year.
“The reality is it didn't [pass in prior years], and I'm not going to harp on it,” Liu said. “The harsh reality is that we have seen more and more and more deaths from drunken driving, and that trend is upward. But we have also seen now that it has worked in the state of Utah where the trend is downward.”
