Dangerous Roads newsletter: The regrets of drunken drivers

Before taking over the transportation beat 18 years ago, I was Newsday’s Suffolk courts reporter for four years. And, while I don’t miss the daily commute between Valley Stream and Riverhead, I do miss covering real-life courtroom drama, as heartbreaking as it often was.

I covered my share of high-profile murder cases, but a lot of the homicides I wrote about didn’t involve knives or guns, but rather car keys and booze.

A quick search of stories I wrote brought up dozens of fatal DWIs. There was the 79-year-old Catholic priest run over by a drunken driver while taking an evening stroll near his sister’s East Hampton house. There was the Aquebogue attorney who swerved into oncoming traffic and killed a Belgian tourist. And there was the three-time convicted drunken driver who launched his SUV 250 feet in the air and through a tree, leaving two of his passengers dead.

All these years later, my recollection of each of those cases is sketchy at best. But what I can remember is the tremendous sense of regret expressed by the convicted drunken drivers. Facing years in prison, and the crushing guilt of having taken a life, many shared how they wish they had that moment to do over again..

Among some of the DWI homicide defendants’ quotes I jotted down at their sentencing hearings:

• "I'm truly sorry. If I could change things or switch places, I would."
• "Every time I think about this, I break down. And I've thought about this for every single day."
• "Although I pray that someday God forgives me, I know that I will never be able to forgive myself. ... And I will punish myself every second for the rest of my life."

I can't attest to the sincerity of any of the expressions of remorse I witnessed, especially given that many of the defendants were repeat offenders. I conducted one jailhouse interview with a Medford man with 11 drunken driving convictions who told me he felt "terrible" and "very embarrassed." I don't doubt his regret was real, but was it over the pain he caused, or the fact that he got caught?

Two decades later, those defendants have all completed their sentences, but the families of those they killed are still doing their time as bereaved loved ones.

That devastation was front of mind when I read my colleague Robert Brodsky’s recent story about the rise of underage DWI arrests on Long Island. The issue received new attention after a 20-year-old Hauppauge man was charged with drinking and driving in a crash that killed an off-duty Nassau police officer in January.

According to police data, 78 drivers between the ages of 16 and 20 were arrested last year for driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol in Suffolk County, a 110% increase from 2023. In Nassau, 26 underage motorists were arrested for DWI in 2025, up 13% from the 23 arrests one year earlier, according to department figures.

I've got my own regrets for some of the dumb things I did in my teens and early 20s — undoubtedly my prime years for stupid decisions. Thankfully, none of them landed me in jail, or worse, ended a life.

By the time I was in my mid-20s, I was spending many of my days in courtrooms, observing the catastrophic consequences reaped by the decision to drink and drive. Now, as the father of two teenage boys, I'm glad I took plenty of notes.

Readers speak up

This reader said a lot with his email, which included this picture taken through his windshield while driving through Marysvale, Utah, on a cross country trip.

How LI Drivers see the Expressways & Parkways of Nassau & Suffolk Counties.

Kevin Walsh, Richmond Hill, Queens

Do you have any photos that you think capture Long Island’s dangerous roads problem? Send them to roads@newsday.com.