Politics & Government

Rice, Fuschillo Take on Drunken Bus Driving

Nassau lawmakers propose ignition interlock devices in all school buses.

In the wake of two incidences, one in Syosset, where the driver was reportedly drunk at the wheel, Nassau legislators are proposing that ignition interlock devices be put in school buses.

According to a Fios News report, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice and Sen. Charles Fuschillo, R-Merrick, have proposed a law that would require ignition interlock devices in every bus. A clean reading would be required as the driver blows into the device before the bus would be able to start.

The proposed legislation would require that all buses manufactured after July 1, 2013 have the ignition interlock device installed, said the report. The bill would also give school districts the right to mandate the installation in buses already in service, reported Fios.

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"To have a bus driver blow into this device is so simple to tell every parent and every child that's on that bus that that bus driver isn't drunk and you're going to be safe," Fuschillo told reporters Wednesday.

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This proposal comes just two weeks after Frederick Flowers was apparently drunk at the wheel of a bus carrying five elementary school aged children home from St. Edward the Confessor School. Flowers faces a battery of charges, including five counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated (Leandra's Law), five counts of reckless endangerment, and two counts of driving while intoxicated.

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In addition to the accident in Syosset, a bus driver was pulled over on the LIE for swerving and driving with a shredded tire, said the report. Rice told reporters that he had a blood alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit and that officers reported finding an open bottle of vodka in the car.


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