NCJ Number
167936
Date Published
1996
Length
35 pages
Annotation
This report evaluates the implementation and effectiveness of the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law establishing a driver's license suspension penalty for drug offenders.
Abstract
Chapter 312 of the Laws of 1994, effective November 1, 1994, requires the suspension of the driver's license of anyone charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI) under Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL) 1192(2) or (3) who, at the time of arrest, had a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10 percent or higher. The suspension is imposed at arraignment or upon receipt of the results of the BAC testing. Of the 50,672 arrests during the first year the law was in effect, approximately 20,500 continued beyond the arraignment on a VTL 1192(2) charge and were eligible for the prompt suspension; an unknown number of the approximately 6,800 VTL 1192(3) arraignments that continued beyond arraignment may have qualified for the prompt suspension. A total of 18,000 prompt suspensions were issued between November 1, 1994 and October 31, 1995. The report contains information on: study design; implementation of the law; extreme hardship privileges; duration of driving privilege loss; chemical test refusals; the Act's effectiveness; legal challenges to the Prompt Suspension law; and administrative and judicial suspension systems. Notes, tables, bibliography, appendixes