New York laws crack down on DUIs and hit and runs

New York Gov. Pataki signed a new law yesterday named Vasean's Law making it easier for prosecutors to bring serious charges against drunken drivers who kill or injure someone. Until the New York DUI law was signed, prosecutors had been obstructed by a legal guideline called the Rule of Two.

The Rule of Two was established by case law, suggesting that for a killer driver to be indicted with a criminally negligent homicide, s(he) must have violated at least two traffic laws. This would mean a drunken driver who killed a pedestrian would have also had to commit another crime.

Under Vasean's Law, the requirement that a prosecutor must prove criminal negligence in order to bring felony vehicular manslaughter charges is eliminated, so it is easier to put killer drunken drivers behind bars for up to seven years. According to Pataki, New York drunken driving laws have not been tough enough to "treat them as the violent criminals that they are."

Pataki also signed a second law increasing the maximum penalty of leaving the scene of a fatal accident from four years to seven years. The law also increased the maximum sentence for hit and run drivers who injure pedestrians and motorists from 90 days in prison to a year.