En route to safer roads.

Publication: Newsday (Melville, NY)

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Newsday

Byline: Ann Givens

Jul. 30--Long Island's drunken driving death toll of 75 last year may seem high, but law enforcement attention to the problem has brought that number way down from years past. Increased diligence about chasing down drunken drivers on the street, punishing them and getting them treatment has helped curb the number of deaths from as high as 119 in 1990 and 102 in 1995, officials say. The accident that killed Msgr. William Costello July 18 -- and the July 2005 Meadowbrook Parkway crash where a man slammed his pickup into a limo on its way back from a wedding, killing flower girl Katie Flynn, 7, of Lido Beach, and driver Stanley Rabinowitz, 59, of Farmingdale -- highlights the fact that there is still a long way to go. But officials are proud of the progress that has been made so far. "It's a tribute that our numbers have been going down," said Christopher...

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