consumption of alcohol. He failed to lower his high beams in response to signals from a police car as he approached it on the roadway. The police officer made a U-turn and followed defendant for a distance of 800 to 900 feet, during which time defendant drove with all four tires on the shoulder of the road. Defendant did not respond to the police car's overhead lights and only stopped when a siren was activated. The time was about 1:30 A.M. on October 29, 1997, and there was no traffic on County Road 80 in Quogue. Absent from the record is the required evidence to show how unsafe, if at all, the shoulder was at the subject location. Nor does it appear that there was evidence of defendant speeding or swerving in a manner perilous to the infant passenger. It does appear that the infant had been restrained in a car seat in the rear of defendant's car by her mother, defendant's friend. Under the circumstances, it was not established beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant acted "knowingly" or that his conduct was "likely" to be injurious to the child. In so holding, we neither condone defendant's conduct nor wish to imply that whenever a defendant commits only a traffic infraction while a child is in his vehicle, he should be deemed not guilty, per se, of endangering the welfare of a child (Penal Law § 260.10). The evidence in a given case might evince conduct so egregious as to establish the requisite knowledge and a true likelihood of injury which is not "speculative" (cf., People v Simmons, 92 NY2d 829, 831). In the case at bar, however, these elements were not sufficiently proven. We are cognizant of the seriousness of drinking and driving, in view of the accidents, sometimes fatal, which do occur (see, People v Cruz, 152 Misc 2d 436, 440, n). The Legislature, on the other hand, has chosen to grade the gravity of such conduct as felony, misdemeanor and traffic infraction (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1193). Accordingly, we would be loath to trample into its province by deciding, in effect, that whenever a defendant has been found guilty of the traffic infraction of driving while impaired (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192 [1]) with the additional element of there being a child present in his vehicle, he should also be deemed guilty of an accompanying misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child (Penal Law § 260.10 [1]). [*] Penal Law § 15.05 (2) states, "A person acts knowingly with respect to conduct or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is aware that his conduct is of such nature or that such circumstance exists." (Emphasis added.)