Dangerous roads newsletter: Unqualified and unlicensed drivers on Long Island's roads

It took me three tries to pass my driving test. The first time, when I was 17, I froze making a left at a busy intersection in Freeport. Fail.

The second time, I nailed the turn, and even parallel parked to perfection, but blew a stop sign on my way back to the starting point. Fail.

At the age of 21, at a different test course in Laurelton, Queens, I finally passed — and not a moment too soon, as I was starting my summer internship at Newsday weeks later. I vividly remember white-knuckling it on the Van Wyck Expressway the first time I drove to Newsday’s old Kew Gardens newsroom.

Truth be told, I had no business at the time being behind the wheel of a car in one of the most congested cities in the world. But, because, on my third try, I barely passed a 10-minute driving test that required me to cruise around a few side streets in a residential neighborhood in southeast Queens, I was licensed to navigate a 2-ton machine at high speeds within inches of other vehicles and their occupants, and pedestrians, for the rest of my life.

It speaks to how easy it is to get a driver's license in New York compared to other areas of the U.S. and the world. In Maryland, you need to pass two road tests to get a license — one in a closed course, and another on public roads. In Washington, you must get 32 out of 40 questions right (80%) in a "knowledge test" compared to 14 out of 20 (70%) in New York's permit test.

And those are all a relative breeze compared to what it takes to get licensed to drive in some European countries. Germany's licensing process is an arduous and expensive endeavor that entails first aid training, several weeks of "theory" classes and an hourlong "practical test." New York's road test, on the other hand, takes "approximately 15 minutes," according to the DMV. The German process can cost would-be drivers about 3,000 euros (approximately $3,400). A New York driver's license will run you between $64.50 and $107.50. (DMV spokesman Walter McClure defended New York's licensing standards, noting that New York, unlike some other states, requires that drivers take a five-hour pre-licensing course.)

50,000 unlicensed Long Island drivers 

The ease with which someone can legally get behind the wheel in New York may sound scary to you. Scarier still: Even with New York having fairly modest standards for issuing driver's licenses, some 50,000 people on Long Island are driving without them, according to a Newsday story recently reported by my colleagues Sandra Peddie and Anastasia Valeeva. Some of those drivers had their licenses suspended or revoked. Others never got them at all.

Predictably, these folks are involved in car crashes at a disproportionately high rate. As Sandra and Anastasia reported, unlicensed drivers account for 2% of all motorists on Long Island, but represent 14% of drivers involved in fatal crashes, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles and data provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Like New York’s licensing standards, its consequences for those who drive without license have, historically, been relatively low. Until recently, it took 10 license suspensions or revocations on 10 different dates to upgrade an unlicensed driving charge to a felony.

In November, that threshold was cut in half — to five on five dates — thanks in large part to the successful lobbying efforts of the family of Angelica Nappi, the 14-year-old Holbrook girl who was killed in 2008 by a driver whose license had been suspended seven times. His punishment: 6 months in jail and 5 years' probation.

"How in the world can anybody be allowed on the road with a record like that?" Angelica's mother, Dawn Riendeau, told Newsday.

As it turns out, the standards for being "allowed on the road" in New York aren’t all that high, whether you’re someone who hasn’t yet mastered all the rules or the road, or someone who isn’t all that interested in following them at all.

Behind the story: A question that needs an answer

As part of Newsday's "Dangerous Roads" series, veteran investigative reporter Sandra Peddie had the idea to dig into the problem of unlicensed drivers on Long Island, and the damage they cause. Here, Sandra shares what drove her to tackle the subject matter, and the profound impact the story had on her:

While working on a story about Kerri Bedrick, who drove the wrong way on Sunrise Highway and allegedly caused an accident that killed her 9-year-old son, I happened upon a startling fact: She had 56 license suspensions at the time of the crash.

It made me wonder: How can someone with so many suspensions still be on the road?

A lot of stories start out like that. You come across a question that needs to be answered.

I started the research and learned that it happens more often than I ever realized. The numbers alarmed me. To tell the whole story, I needed to talk to the people who have been affected.

Most journalists will tell you that it is an incredible honor when people entrust you with their stories. We feel a moral obligation to tell their stories sensitively. We worry about getting it right, and we worry about the impact sharing those stories will have on people.

I knew I wanted to talk to the mother of Angelica Nappi, the 14-year-old girl who was going to a movie with friends in 2008 when a driver with a suspended license sped through a red light and hit their car, killing her. Her mother, Dawn Riendeau, fought to toughen the penalties for unlicensed driving. It took her 16 years.

It’s never easy to ask someone who has experienced a trauma to talk about it. But Dawn and her daughter Nicolette Franzone welcomed us and shared freely. There were tears and some flashes of anger, but there was something else, too — forgiveness.

I’m not sure I could forgive someone who killed someone I loved; but these women, because of their deep faith, have.

That particular fact didn’t really fit into the story, but in some ways, it’s the most important one to me. It is a reminder of how often I am moved — and inspired — by the people who share their stories with me.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.