Bills introduced in Albany this week to toughen the penalties for drunk driving are long overdue.

One of the bills is connected with a local tragedy - the March 17, 2005 death of a 15-year-old girl in the town of Skaneateles.

Brandi Woods, of Memphis, had been standing outside a parked car on Stump Road in Skaneateles with her mother, sister and a group of Girl Scouts delivering cookies when she was hit and killed by Lawrence Mondore, of Syracuse.

Mondore had previously been arrested for drunken driving in 1977 and 1985, and was convicted of driving while ability impaired in 1997. He had celebrated St. Patrick's Day last year by drinking with co-workers and had been giving one of them a lift home when his car struck Woods. Mondore later pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and driving while intoxicated and was sentenced to one to three years in prison.

A bill is now named after Woods and Bill Leaf, a Syracuse radio reporter killed in a crash by a driver - accused of being drunk - who was going the wrong way on a highway.

Under the newly proposed legislation, drivers convicted of a second DWI in which someone was hurt could face as many as 15 years in prison, with those convicted of three or more charges facing 25 years.

This newspaper has published too many accounts of fatal accidents involving alcohol. Every now and then, we report on a “mock DWI” crash, staged near the end of the school year to get the attention of young drivers.

But the publicity generated by ceaseless tragedies and continual “Stop DWI” public service campaigns have not been backed up by our courts. Drunk drivers continue to kill, and New York has let its residents down by failing to impose penalties strong enough to persuade drivers to stop drinking and driving.

Drunk drivers are often allowed to plead to reduced charges, with fines, fees and restricted driving privileges their only punishment. Perhaps the potential for a long prison term will make them think twice. Nothing else seems to be working.