​In New York City, 357 drivers were arrested in 2011 for being under the influence of drugs -- up from 81 ten years prior. That's more than a 300 percent increase.

That's why Sen. Chuck Schumer is making a funding push to crackdown on "drugged driving" through new on-site technologies that would identify drivers under the influence and through additional training for officers.

He made the call for stronger enforcement at a press conference yesterday with Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, where he argued that despite a growth in drugged driving arrests over the last decade, the number of arrests pale in comparison to drunk driving -- due to the challenges of identifying drivers on drugs on the road.

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​This week has brought a wave of PR-department-approved good news to New York City residents. We have less crime! We are healthier! We might just live...forever! And...we're better at driving and/or walking, apparently. Mayor Bloomberg along with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan released stats today showing that New York has hit an all-time low in traffic fatalities -- the fewest since records started being kept in 1910. According to data for the year up to December 27, there were 237 traffic fatalities in 2011, 40 percent fewer than there were in 2001. This includes 134 pedestrian fatalities (involved in crashes with vehicles), 47 senior pedestrian fatalities, and 3 child pedestrian fatalities.

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​EV Grieve reports (with photos) that someone allegedly "blew out the window" of a cab last night at Avenue A near 14th Street. Per the tipster, Matt LES_Miserable, police were on the scene and the driver was "very shaken up" and said a passenger had shot out his window. The hows and whys are unclear, though it seems quite evident this is not how to persuade someone to take you to Brooklyn.

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Terrible confession: We don't drive -- regularly, anyway -- and we never learned how to make this sort of parallel parking magic happen. But it looks pretty effing fancy. Look at the wheels shimmy! This happened in New York City, in Bushwick, recently.

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The above video appears to show a 4-year-old girl in China at the wheel of a car. She is navigating a relatively busy street while her parents can be heard instructing her. Like the smoking baby before her, there is sure to be much outrage about this child exhibiting the dangerous behavior of an adult. Before that outrage erupts, can we take this time to acknowledge that she does a pretty good job merging? [h/t @stevesilberman] [@nickgreene]

Saudi Arabian women took the wheel again today, answering the call of the much-publicized online "Women2Drive" campaign asking women to defiantly get in the car, drive, and post it on YouTube, please. Organizers and media had projected 100+ participants based on Facebook and Twitter pledges. No official word is out yet on the scope of the protest today, but as of 8 p.m. Riyadh time Twitter feeds (#women2drive) reported 30+ women driving, and at least 2 women were pulled over by police and released without arrest. Here's one of several YouTube videos posted today for the Women2Drive campaign:

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​A Saudi Arabian woman told AFP she defied the country's ban on women driving, taking the wheel for four straight days before she was stopped. 30-something wife and mother Najla al-Hariri drove "to defend her belief that Saudi women should be allowed to drive.''

"I don't fear being arrested because I am setting an example that my daughter and her friends are proud of,'' she said. She will also be offering driving lessons, thank you very much. Nayla al-Hariri is ruling pretty hard right now.

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​Having a car in the city can be trying at the least, because not only do you have to navigate the traffic on a daily basis, but even when you're not driving the car you still have to move it to make way for street-cleaning services. Lucky for car owners, life might be getting much sweeter. New York's City Council passed a measure yesterday that could potentially mean one less day per week NYC drivers have to move their cars due to alternate side parking regulations.

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​We are fans of drinking, yes, but never drunk driving, because, you know, you could really hurt someone (and often do). Thus it is with great disappointment that we heard the tale of Mount Vernon man Wilbert A. Elvy, 46 (certainly old enough to know better!), who was arrested in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday not once but twice in a row, in the span of two hours, for drunk driving.

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​We're all for kicking back and relaxing with a bit of something boozy, and one of the greatest things about New York City is that you almost never really have to drive anywhere, whether you've been drinking or not. We're all grownups here, the very least we can do is take public transportation, or even a cab, if we're in the cups! Alas, this is not the case for certain partiers on the Lower East Side, which sports, in the 7th Precinct, the most drunk driving arrests out of any in New York City. Not exactly something to be proud of.

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