Putting The "Car" In Carnage

It was a bad week for New York City pedestrians. Last Thursday, after a four-month investigation, the Queens District Attorney announced that state law prevented him from seeking felony charges against John Wirta, the drunk driver who mowed down two boys in Flushing last October.

The 56-year-old boiler repairman was driving eastbound on 73rd Avenue at 150th Street when his van barreled into Vasean Alleyne, 11, and Angel Reyes, 12, as they stepped into the street from between two parked cars. Vasean was killed and Angel seriously injured. When the police got to the scene they found Wirta with bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, breath stinking and a blood-alcohol content of .13 percent. The legal limit in New York is .08 percent. Wirta told the cops that he'd had "a couple of beers." It must have been a couple of big ones. A 200-pound man would have to knock back eight in about two hours to pump that much alcohol into his bloodstream.

Wirta's lawyer says, and the D.A.'s investigation appears to confirm, that Wirta had the green light and was driving under 30 when the boys stepped out into the darkened street. Because he wasn't breaking traffic laws when he hit them, Wirta can only be charged with a misdemeanor, driving while intoxicated. At most, he faces a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. In other words, if you ever need to kill someone, do it with a car.

The boys' mothers are now up in Albany trying to get the legislature to pass "Vasean's Law" for harsher penalties on killer drivers. Vasean's mother, Monique Dixon, told the Times that she isn't coming home until legislators "can tell me to my face why there is no law to cover the death of my son."

She might consider renting an apartment. Activists have been trying to compel state lawmakers to stiffen penalties for killer drivers for decades. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a former defense attorney, is deeply skeptical of any law favoring prosecution and is likely to continue to stall any such legislation.

Even worse, Silver refuses to take action to prevent reckless driving in the first place. He has for years allowed David Gantt, a libertarian-leaning upstate Assembly member who runs the transportation committee, to stop New York City from getting more red-light cameras at dangerous intersections. Gantt believes the life-saving cameras are a slippery slope to Big Brother government.

Peak Experience

If government won't make city streets safer by giving us red-light cameras, traffic calming, congestion pricing, or stricter jail terms for meat-head motorists, it looks like Mother Nature may be in the process of getting the job done herself. This week gas prices in California made their first foray past the $3 mark. A gallon of self-serve regular unleaded at the Malibu 76 Union on the Pacific Coast Highway costs $3.05. President Bush's inner circle has begun quietly mulling the economic and political implications of a $4 gallon "nightmare scenario." Hopefully the White House team will conclude that it is finally time to level with the American people: We are approaching Peak Oil, the era in which global oil demand begins to outpace supply. This is the start of a long, painful and permanent upswing in energy costs. Fortunately, America still has time to make a choice. We can scale back our sprawling, guzzling, oil-addicted way of life. Or we can have a resource war with China, send Marines to Venezuela and drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to keep our oil supply growing for a few more years. I have a feeling I know which way the Bush team is leaning.

Bump and Grind

The good news is, by the time the Peak Oil crisis really starts hitting home, it may finally be a bit easier to commute by bike in New York City. After a report in the Press two weeks ago, the Department of Transportation has grudgingly acknowledged that the bone-breaking steel bumps on the Williamsburg Bridge were a mistake. DOT is in the process of hiring a consultant to study the matter. New Yorkers can rest assured: If all else fails, in the future we can heat our homes by burning the DOT's vast reserve of studies.

-Aaron Naparstek

naparstek@nypress.com