By Dan Murphy
The recent news of three prominent cases of drunk driving in Westchester made this reporter ask the question, with all of the technological advances in our society, why can’t we stop Drunk Driving?
On August 31, 2021, at approximately 4:17 a.m., Zachary Scott, the General Manager of the New York Mets baseball team, was discovered asleep behind the wheel of his car while stopped at a traffic light on South Lexington Avenue in White Plains. White Plains Police woke Scott, who was initially disoriented and confused. He admitted to drinking earlier in the night and failed the three standardized field sobriety tests that were administered. Following his arrest, Scott refused to submit to a chemical test to determine his blood alcohol content.
Scott, 44, of Rye, was charged in White Plains City Court with Driving While Intoxicated, a misdemeanor. Earlier in the evening of Aug 30, Scott attended a fund raising party hosted by the owner of the Mets, Steve Cohen, at his estate in Greenwich, Ct.
Several members of the Mets also attended. The Mets left at 9pm in a bus, which took them back to CitiField in Queens, NYC. Scott left the party around the same time and apparently headed to the pubs in White Plains along Mamaroneck Avenue.
“Zachary Scott made an irresponsible decision to drive while under the influence,” said Westchester DA Mimi Rocah said. “We are thankful nobody was hurt or killed but we will continue to hold people accountable for this kind of reckless and potentially dangerous conduct in Westchester County.”
On August 12, Bedford attorney Robert Schuster, pled guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide after a collision he caused in December 2019 while intoxicated resulted in the death of a Mount Kisco man, Diego Trejo, in a head on collision. Schuster now faces a minimum of 1-3 years in prison.
On August 23, Yorktown resident Mark Cope was arraigned on Monday for a wrong-way, head-on collision he caused while intoxicated in December 2020 which resulted in the death of an Ossining mother, Cope, 41, also faces a minimum of 1-3 years in prison, and is charged with three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.
Two days before Christmas 2020, at 907PM, Cope drove northbound in the southbound lane on Route 9 in Peekskill when he crashed head-on into the car driven by Ossining resident Shina McClam. McClam, 32, died at the scene. McClam’s six-year-old daughter and 18-year-old niece, who were passengers in the car, suffered non-life threatening injuries from the crash and were transported to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. Both spent one-week in the hospital.
Drunk drivers come in all types: Rich and poor, young and old, most are men, but some are women.
Sometimes, whenever possible, I like to be home by 9pm on the weekends. How can we all be safe? Mothers Against Drunk Driving, MADD, asked, “Imagine a world without drunk driving…Ten thousand fewer families would get the call or visit from law enforcement letting them know their loved one isn’t coming home, hundreds of thousands of people would not be injured, families would remain together and intact, and our country would save $132 billion in costs each year.
“Now, that world is possible. A generation ago it would have sounded absurd that inflatable bags of air would help protect us in a car crash; now, every new car has them. Today’s cars can parallel park themselves and have anti-theft sensors that can shut down the engine. Tomorrow’s cars will protect our families from drunk driving by automatically determining whether or not the driver is impaired.”
Thirty-three states require those convicted of drunk driving of using an ignition interlock, or in-car breathalyzers, force offenders to provide a sober breath sample before operating their vehicles. But research shows that if adopted nationwide, an additional 1,000 lives could be saved each year. That should be a no-brainer, and Congress and President Biden should act immediately.
But for those first time offenders, breath or touch sensors can prevent a drunk driver from operating their vehicle. Autonomous vehicle technologies have the potential to eliminate many types of roadway fatalities, including drunk driving. Technology holds the key to unlocking a future of No More Victims.
MADD has been working on this technology since 2006, and would only come into play if someone tries to drive impaired. Other technologies being studied include driver monitoring systems, touch-based systems that can read your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) through your fingertips and air-sampling systems that can test and isolate just the air exhaled by the driver. MADD has challenged the auto industry to move quickly to develop these technologies to start saving lives.
Other groups believe that tougher criminal measures can help eliminate drunk drivers.
https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org writes, “The single most effective measure to reduce drunk driving is automatic license revocation. Automatic license revocation along with required jail appears to be even more effective. Confiscating license plates and drinking and vehicle impoundment can also work. But it appears that we can’t ‘jail our way’ out of the problem.”
While the number of drunken drivers has gone down by 2/3 since 1982, we can and must do better.
And I haven’t included two of the increasing segments of impaired driving: Distracted driving on your cell phone and drugged driving.
And what about the bars? How can we hold them more accountable?
And what if the General Manager of the Mets was fired for drunk driving? Would that help keep me and my family safe at night on the road?
