Stop LI's plague of drunken driving

It was a typical nail salon in a typical strip mall on a typical Friday afternoon. Workers busy trimming and painting nails. Customers enjoying a manicure as the weekend approached.

Then one of Long Island's curses struck. Steven Schwally, 64, drove his SUV through the front of Hawaii Nail & Spa in Deer Park, killing four and injuring nine. Schwally told police he drank 18 beers the night before. That people can drink to such excess, then get behind the wheel is terrifying — and intolerable. So is the fact we haven't done enough to stop it.

This wasn't Schwally's first instance of drinking and driving. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence. His license was suspended and he received a $500 fine and probation. How many times did he get behind the wheel in the ensuing decade? 

There's much we don't know about Schwally and the circumstances surrounding this horrific incident. But we know the names of those who were killed and the families destroyed. How many times must we lament lives lost and others irrevocably changed due to drunken driving before we act to stop it?

Killed were NYPD Officer Emilia Rennhack, 30, of Deer Park, who probably never imagined that the greatest risk to her life was being in a nail salon on her day off, and the spa's owner and employees who all made difficult sacrifices in life only to find their dreams crushed by our alcoholism plague: owner Jiancai Chen, 37, of Bayside, who had just celebrated Father's Day with his two children, and employees Yan Xu, 41, who was working to support her ill son and mother, and Meizi Zhang, 50, both of Flushing.

But the drunken-driving casualty list last Friday is even longer. East Meadow resident Cheryl Bergenstock, 64, hit a Toyota Corolla driven by Alan Goldsand, 82, killing him. Bergenstock faces charges of driving while intoxicated and second-degree vehicular assault.

It's not just drunken driving.  On the same day as the fatal nail salon crash, Lindenhurst resident Michael DeAngelo, 33, was sentenced to 7 to 21 years in prison for driving impaired by cocaine and fentanyl and killing four members of a family — a “car with so much potential,” as the youngest victim's mom said.

Increased enforcement, traffic-calming measures, and actions like installing bollards would help address our drunken-driving problem. But the best step is to make sure no one can start or drive a car while drunk. In New York, those convicted of driving while intoxicated have ignition interlock devices installed for 12 months. That's not enough. The National Transportation Safety Board recommends all new cars include a blood-alcohol monitoring system. The federal bipartisan infrastructure bill includes language that would mandate such technology, although the timing is uncertain.

It's beyond clear: Don't drink and drive, and remove cars from those who do.