MEASURE WOULD FORCE DUI TESTING
The Courier Post - August 8, 2010 - TRENTON - Drivers involved in accidents that result in death or serious injury would have to submit to sobriety testing under a bill advancing in the Legislature.
The legislation stems from a fatal one-car crash in Southampton in July 2007 that killed a 17-year-old from Evesham.
Anthony J. Farrace, a passenger in the car, was killed when it hit a tree.
His body was tested for the presence of alcohol or drugs, as permitted by law, but the 17-year-old driver was not required to submit to testing. She eventually was cited for careless driving, for which she paid a $200 fine and had her license suspended for six months.
The accident spurred Farrace's father to push for legislation.
Currently, drivers can only be tested for drugs or alcohol when there is evidence or a clear-cut suspicion that a driver is under the influence.
But the bill sponsored by Assemblymen Nelson Albano, D-Cape May, and Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester, would mandate that any driver either submit to a breath test or give a blood sample to determine if alcohol or drugs played a role in the accident.
Those who refuse would be subject to the same penalties as someone convicted of refusal in relation to a drunken driving charge. First offenders could face fines of up to $1,000 and have their driver's license suspended for as long as two years.
"Testing drivers for potential alcohol or drug use should be the rule when accidents result in death or serious injuries, not the exception," Moriarty said.
The Law and Public Safety Committee approved the bill in June, sending it to the full Assembly. But a vote has not yet been scheduled.
"Testing for the influence of drugs or alcohol at the scene of an accident makes common sense," Albano said. "Not only would police be able to determine whether a driver was under the influence, they would be able to ensure that impaired drivers don't get back behind the wheel and will face serious charges."
BEHIND THE WHEEL; OFF THE STREETS
By TONY MARQUIS | The Marlton Telegram
The Marlton Telegram - February 10, 2010 - Connected by tragedy, John and Claudia Farrace are joining efforts with a Medford family to expand a teen driver safety program in the Lenape Regional High School District.
The Farraces donated $30,000 to the district for new driving simulators from the memorial fund of their son Anthony, who was killed in a car accident in 2007.
In the past, the Farraces have donated money from the fund to scholarships for Cherokee High School students, but after they read about driving simulator donations to Shawnee High School from the Fitzpatricks in Medford – who also lost their son, Ryan, in a car accident – the Farraces wanted to help.
“It will affect every child that comes through the district,” said Claudia of the program.
The simulators, made by Virtual Driver interactive, allow students to sit in a virtual car with a seatbelt, wheel, gas, brakes, three monitors and cameras that track the driver’s eye movement. Students are taken through several training programs, which simulate dangerous driving situations and weather conditions.
Because of the Fitzpatricks’ donation, there are three simulators at Shawnee High School. The district expects another to be at Cherokee soon. The simulators cost about $10,600 each.
“We’ve had great excitement with what students are able to achieve from them,” Board of Education member John Heitmann said. “It’s a wonderful thing. It’s great technology, and it’s a very safe way to give students an opportunity that they don’t always get.”
Both memorial funds consist of donations from the community, including businesses, friends and family members. The Farraces had donated more than $10,000 to scholarships before committing to buy the driving simulators.
“That just kind of helps one person, one kid,” John said. “And we thought about it – our community was so great to us.”
Local groups like the Medford-Vincentown Rotary Club and the New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company have also provided significant funds to the program.
Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In 2008, about 3,500 teens were killed in car accidents.
For Dan Fitzpatrick, donating money to buy simulators was an effort to do anything he could to prevent fatal teen car crashes.
“Obviously when you lose someone in a tragic accident, in an automobile accident, you certainly don’t want that to happen to anyone again – it’s very painful,” Fitzpatrick said. “So we tried to come up with ways of providing a safer situation.”
NJ BILL STEMS FROM FATAL CAR CRASH OF A 17-YEAR-OLD
DAILYRECORD.COM - April 12, 2009 - TRENTON, N.J. - Drivers involved in accidents in which someone dies or is seriously hurt would have to take a sobriety test under a bill recently introduced in the New Jersey Legislature.
Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, a co-sponsor of the bill, said the requirement would help police determine whether the driver should be arrested or charged with a crime.
Currently, authorities can only give a sobriety test when there is evidence or clear suspicion that a driver is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A car accident alone does not necessarily provide that evidence.
"That's really it in a nutshell: whether an accident is really an accident, or whether the driver was impaired and should be brought to justice," said Moriarty, D-Turnersville.
The bill was introduced last month, though Moriarty said he did not know when it would be heard by lawmakers.
The measure is a response to a July 2007 fatal car crash in Southampton Township. Anthony Farrace, a 17-year-old heading into his senior year at Cherokee High School, was killed after the car he was riding in hit a tree.
Anthony, an aspiring U.S. Naval Academy midshipman, was wearing his seat belt at the time, said his father, John Farrace.
The driver, a 17-year-old girl, was later cited for careless driving under a plea bargain, Farrace said. She also was fined $200 and had her license suspended for six months, a punishment Farrace described as "a disgrace."
Meanwhile, Anthony's body was tested for drugs and alcohol, but the driver, who had minor injuries from the crash, was not.
Farrace said the bill was his idea, and he recently asked Moriarty to sponsor it. Assemblyman Nelson Albano, D-Cape May Court House, also is a sponsor.
One person who supports it is Carolyn Pittman Budd, whose 17-year-old son, Brian Pittman, was killed in a car accident 31 years ago in Medford.
Brian was riding in a car with two friends when the driver, also 17, ran a red light, she said. A truck hauling lumber hit the passenger side of their car, killing Brian and the other teen in the car, a 16-year-old girl.
Pittman Budd said her son had a beer bottle between his legs and a marijuana pipe in his pocket at the time of the crash. She said police asked the driver if he'd been drinking or using drugs, but the driver said no, only Brian and the girl were, and the driver never was tested after the accident.
The driver lost his license for nine months because of the accident, she added.
Now 70, Pittman Budd said the proposed bill is a good first step to ensuring drivers are held accountable for their actions.
"It's not something that you ever get over," she said. "You don't get over the loss, and you don't get over the injustice of what happened."
EVESHAM COUPLE CALLS FOR STRICTER TEEN DRIVER LAWS
MY BCT NOW.COM - November 13, 2008 - Wearing an “Anthony Farrace Memorial Foundation” shirt John Farrace sat in a committee room, his wife Claudia by his side, listening to legislators discuss strengthening the state’s teen driving regulations.
For the Evesham couple, the legislation comes too late.
Their son Anthony was killed July 6, 2007 when a 1997 Mercedes E320, which he was the passenger of, crashed into a tree off Route 70 in Southampton at 9:07 a.m. The driver, a 17-year-old Evesham girl, suffered minor injuries. Their son was 17 at the time and had completed his junior year at Cherokee High School.
While the parents did not testify at the hearing before the Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee in the State House Annex today in Trenton, they listened closely.
The committee unanimously approved a package of bills, which would force teens to log more time behind the wheel before qualifying for a license; would have provisional drivers display decals on their cars; and would barmunicipal prosecutors from offering plea bargains to teens who violate the graduated drivers license law among other things.
The legislation is based on the recommendations of the governor’s Teenage Driver Safety Study Commission, which John and Claudia Farrace testified before.
The full Assembly and Senate must approve the bills before they become law.
“I think more needs to be done,” John Farrace said. “There are no real consequences and no deterrents.”
The teenager who caused the accident that killed their son was issued a $200 fine and had her license suspended for six months.
The couple is drafting their own legislation, they hope to get sponsors and call it Anthony’s Law. It would mandate that teen drivers who cause serious injuries or death be drug and alcohol tested; face a minimum two-year license suspension; and face jail time. It would also impose stiff fines and community service for the teens and their parents.
GOVERNOR'S COMMISSION STUDIES WAYS TO STOP TEENAGE AUTO DEATHS
By: DAVID LEVINSKY (Fri, Dec/21/2007), phillyBurbs.com
By all accounts, Evan Welch and Erick Messick had bright futures.
The same was said about teenagers Anthony Farrace, Melissa Oakes, Brendon Hathaway, Angela Hallerud and Maximillian J. Cafone.
Each of those young lives came to a tragic end in auto accidents in Burlington County this year.
Oakes, 17, of Medford and Hathaway, 17, of Pemberton Borough were behind the wheel during their fatal crashes.
Welch, 18, of Moorestown, Hallerud, 14, of Mount Laurel, Cafone, 17, of Mount Holly, Farrace, 17, of Evesham and Messick, 17, of Moorestown were passengers in vehicles driven by fellow teenagers.
The seven are among thousands of teenagers who die each year in auto accidents, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which lists vehicle accidents as the No. 1 killer of young people across the country.
For Pam Fischer, director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, even one death is enough to spur action.
“It's a tragedy anytime someone dies in an auto accident, but when it's a teenager with their whole life ahead of them, it's even sadder,” Fischer said. “As a parent, it's your worst nightmare to have to bury your own child.”
For the past three months, Fischer has headed up the governor's Teenage Driver Safety Study Commission, a group of officials and volunteers charged with devising new methods to prevent New Jersey teenagers from dying on the roads.
The commission meets every other week to discuss issues related to teenage motor vehicle safety, among them potential changes to the state's graduated driver's license law, driver education and penalties for new drivers. The group is expected to recommend methods to improve safety early next year.
Under New Jersey's current licensing law, students who take six hours of classroom driving instruction can get their learner's permit at age 16. Those who don't must wait until they're 16 years and six months.
At age 17, New Jersey residents can get provisional driver's licenses that allow only one passenger in the car who is not a family member. In addition, provisional drivers cannot drive between midnight and 5 a.m. Unrestricted licenses are issued after a driver has held a provisional license for a year, usually shortly after the driver turns 18.
Fischer said New Jersey's graduated licensing procedures have reduced the number of accidents involving teenagers. However, she said enforcement of the laws and restrictions — particularly restrictions on carrying passengers — is extremely difficult.
Devising a method to identify vehicles driven by provisional drivers is at the top of the list and “will absolutely be one of our recommendations,” Fischer said.
Welch and Cafone both died in vehicles operated by drivers with provisional licenses. Both drivers were in violation of the law because they carried too many passengers in their vehicles at the time of the accidents.
The driver of the vehicle in which Welch died was charged with death by auto, assault by auto, driving while intoxicated and reckless driving. Police have said that accident site was littered with dozens of empty and unopened cans of beer. An investigation continues to determine where the teens got the alcohol and where they were drinking before the crash.
Fischer said teenage drinking and driving is an obvious danger, but said statistics show it is a relatively infrequent factor in teenage traffic accidents. She said driver distraction, speeding and inexperience are the most common causes.
“Obviously, alcohol coupled with inexperience and speed is a lethal combination,' Fischer said in describing the events surrounding the crash that claimed Welch's life. “By all accounts, this was a perfect example of a party on wheels. We need teens to understand that as new drivers, they need to be completely focused on driving.”
Fischer said the identification will likely be a recognizable decal or sticker that will be attached to a vehicle as well as a notation on a vehicle registration. Fischer said a decal is not a cure-all, but could help police officers recognize violators of the provisional-license restrictions.
“We've heard from lots of parents who say they want police to stop their teen if they're doing something wrong under the graduated driver's license law,” she said. “It does have an impact.”
No state currently requires decals for new drivers, but Australia and Canada have done so for several years, Fischer said.
The Ocean County town of Jackson also has started a voluntary program where provisional drivers are identified by stickers. The number of participants was unavailable.
In addition to decals, increasing the amount of behind-the-wheel instruction and practice time is being discussed by the commission panel, Fischer said.
David Weinstein, director of public affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic and a member of the governor's panel, said he believes improving driver education will be a key component.
“(Teenage driving death) is an epidemic. That much becomes more clear with each new crash. And the way to stop an epidemic like this is through education and action,” Weinstein said. “My hope is that the commission can bring about both.”
Burlington County Sheriff Jean Stanfield said her office was recently awarded a grant by the Division of Highway Traffic Safety to educate high school students about motor vehicle safety and defensive driving. As part of the program, she said the department would host a contest by teenagers to create safety videos.
“We're hoping the message will be stronger if it's coming from teenagers themselves,” Stanfield said.
Christy McGowan, victim services advocate for the New Jersey Chapter of Mothers Against Drinking and Driving, said teenagers need to learn about the dangers of underage drinking, rather than just drinking and driving.
“Not drinking and driving is pretty obvious. The message we've been trying to get out now is not to drink period because there are so many things that can happen to a child who is drinking underage,” McGowan said. “The risk of death or injury or rape goes up and up.”
Teenage motor vehicle fatalities in Burlington County during 2007
Maximillian Cafone: The 17-year-old Mount Holly resident was a passenger in a sedan that failed to negotiate a curve and crashed off North Burrs Road in Springfield at 5:22 a.m. Oct. 28. The driver, James Marple, 17, of Westampton, and two other teenage passengers were injured. A state police investigation into the accident is ongoing, including whether alcohol was a factor in the crash. Cafone had attended Rancocas Valley Regional High School.
Anthony Farrace: The 17-year-old Evesham resident died July 6 when a 1997 Mercedes E320 in which he was a passenger crashed into a tree off Route 70 in Southampton at 9:07 a.m.. The driver, a 17-year-old Evesham girl, suffered minor injuries. Farrace had completed his junior year at Cherokee High School.
Angela Hallerud: The 14-year-old Mount Laurel resident was a passenger in a Honda Civic driven by her 17-year-old brother when it collided with a Dodge Durango at the intersection of South Church Street and Cobblestone Drive in Mount Laurel on March 29. Her brother was hospitalized after the crash and survived. The driver of the Dodge was not injured. Hallerud attended Lenape Regional High School.
Brendon Hathaway: The 17-year-old Pemberton Borough resident died April 26 when his car crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer at 3 a.m. at the intersection of Pemberton-Browns Mills Road and Pemberton Parkway in Pemberton Township. A 19-year-old passenger in the vehicle with Hathaway was also injured. Hathaway attended Pemberton Township High School.
Eric Messick: The 17-year-old Moorestown resident was a passenger in a car involved in a three-vehicle accident Dec. 14 on Route 38 in Southampton. The driver of the vehicle that carried Messick, Thomas McCue, 18, of Moorestown, was injured in the crash as were two other drivers involved in the crash, Jesse Johns, 30, of Little Egg Harbor and Brittany Sutton, 20, of Lumberton. Police said the accident occurred at 9:07 p.m. when Johns attempted to pass a vehicle by crossing the double yellow lines in the center of the highway. His vehicle collided head-on with the vehicle carrying McCue and Messick. Messick was a senior at Moorestown High School.
Melissa Oakes: The 17-year-old Medford resident died from injuries sustained Feb. 13 when she lost control of a car she was driving and crashed into a tree off Branin Road in Medford. Oakes attended Shawnee High School.
Evan Welch: The 18-year-old Moorestown resident was a passenger in a car that crashed shortly after midnight Dec. 9 off Garwood Road in Moorestown. The driver, Daniel Friedmann, 18, of Moorestown was charged with death by auto, assault by auto, driving under the influence and reckless driving. Another passenger, a 17-year-old from Moorestown, was hospitalized with injuries that were not life threatening. Welch was a senior at Moorestown High School.