A Vancouver Island man is outraged that a teen who while driving drunk smashed into his daughter and left her to die was given a driver’s licence in the first place.

Ralph and Molly Burton have written a letter to the province’s superintendent of motor vehicles demanding the law be changed to better screen and deny, if necessary, a learner’s licence to young people who have a long list of driving infractions, like this youth did.

“He’s absolutely proven he should never be allowed to drive,” said Molly, 26, who was rescued from the September 2013 crash and undergoes physio three times a week to learn to walk again, but still spends 80 per cent of her time in a wheelchair.

“He’s shown complete disrespect for the safety of others,” she said in a call with The Province from her Comox home.

Supt. Sam MacLeod hasn’t yet answered the family’s letter, but said in an email statement to The Province that the province’s graduated-licensing program, which slowly introduces new drivers with descending restrictions, is designed to help new drivers become safe drivers.

“Individuals who commit driving infractions before they begin the GLP are not prevented from beginning the program,” he said. “It’s not the expectation that they enter the program with those (safe-driving) habits fully formed.”

But Ralph said the youth’s long list of driving infractions from age 10 to 16 while driving dirt bikes and ATVs on the family farm, which came out during his sentencing hearing, should have prevented him from getting his licence.

Those 18 violations, including for driving on roads without insurance and without a helmet, resulted in a six-month driving ban for the youth, who can’t be named because he was 16 at the time of the hit-and-run.

“He was banned from driving six months before he even got this licence,” said Molly.

He got his learner’s permit after the ban expired and six months later drove his car into Molly on a dark Comox road. He was charged with drunk driving (court heard he had earlier shotgunned beers) and dangerous driving, and evidence showed he was speeding at more than twice the 50 km/h limit. He was also driving alone, after dark and using his cellphone, all prohibited for “L” drivers.

“He told police he was reaching for his cellphone before the crash,” said Ralph. “This is a person who isn’t responsible enough to have a driver’s licence,” he said by phone from Comox. “There should at least be a cursory check to find out if new drivers have any MVA (Motor Vehicle Act) violations. He had several and he was just 16. Is this the type of guy we want on the road?”

The crash sent Molly flying 15 metres, landing in blackberry brambles in a muddy, intertidal ditch with the tide coming in.

The teen drove away (he told court he thought he hit a deer), leaving Molly screaming in the cold and dark for five hours until Good Samaritan Brody Fullerton, 21, of Comox found her after an hour-long search.

Molly suffered horrific injuries, including a mangled and fractured arm and leg, a cracked shoulder blade and a large cut to her scalp. She has undergone nine surgeries since the crash and has been off work since.

The teen pleaded guilty to lesser charges, including failing to stop at the scene, and was sentenced this summer to house arrest, including a five-year driving ban. The Burtons worry that means he will be able to apply again for a licence at that time, when he will be 22 years old.

slazaruk@theprovince.com

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