Full "Leandra's Law" to Finally Go Into Effect This Weekend
This Sunday, the final part of the groundbreaking "Leandra's Law" is taking effect. Leandra's Law was named after Leandra Rosado, an 11-year old girl who was killed in a drunk driving accident in 2009. Little Leandra was a passenger in a car driven by a family friend, Carmen Huertas, who was drunk at the time, lost control, killing Leandra. The law, described as the toughest in the nation, makes it a felony to drive drunk with a child under 15 years of age in the car. The second part of the law will require that anyone convicted of a DWI, even a first time offender, will be required to install and maintain and ignition interlock that will prevent the car from being started if the driver has been drinking.
My question is what took so long? The bill was stalled in the New York State Senate, where a weaker bill was preferred, until public outcry convinced the legislature that the tougher version needed to become law. If one child could have been saved in the time that the bill was stalled, we are already too late. Who do we protect by not passing the bill? Drunk parents? Bars? Aren't we supposed to protect those that can't protect themselves?
If a parent drives drunk with a young child in their car, they obviously aren't able to make rational decisions. Since they cannot protect the young child, we have to. I haven't looked and don't really want to know the actual numbers of repeat DWI offenders, let alone the number that have caused serious injuries or death to innocent pedestrians, driver's and passengers on a second or third offense. These laws were brought about by the deaths of young children, and hundreds of others who were victims of drunk drivers. We need to move quickly to address the causes of these crimes and how to prevent them. This is only a first step but we have to start somewhere.
