Driver of Van Will Be Cited in Accident

A driver for a Lancaster vocational center will be cited for not having a valid commercial driver’s license and for failing to yield the right of way before a van loaded with retarded workers collided with a car at a desert crossroads, the California Highway Patrol said Friday.

The driver, 44-year-old Daphne Lear of Lancaster, suffered chest injuries in the accident Thursday afternoon and remained hospitalized in serious condition at Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center. A passenger in the car, 52-year-old Arlene McCannon of Lancaster, was also in serious condition with head injuries.

None of the eight passengers of the van operated by Desert Haven, a Lancaster vocational placement center for retarded adults, were seriously hurt. They were on their way back to the center from groundskeeping jobs at Edwards Air Force Base when the accident occurred.

Investigators plan to cite Lear next week for driving without the Class 2 commercial license required for the 12-passenger van she was driving, CHP Officer Ken Hansen said. Lear obtained such a license in 1986, but it expired last year and she did not renew it when she renewed her automobile driver’s license, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The maximum penalty for driving without the proper license classification, a misdemeanor, is six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, according to the Lancaster district attorney’s office.

In addition, investigators will cite Lear for failing to yield the right of way to the car McCannon was riding in, Hansen said.

CHP officials also gave additional information about a citation, which they reported Thursday, that had been given to Desert Haven in August, 1990, for failing to keep proper documentation on its drivers. They said a computer check Friday revealed that Desert Haven had corrected the record-keeping deficiency when the CHP conducted a follow-up inspection in November.