Driver in Crash of Van Transporting Retarded Workers Will Be Cited

A driver for a Lancaster vocational center will be cited for not having a valid commercial driver’s license and failing to yield the right of way before a van loaded with mentally 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 Thursday afternoon accident 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 in the van operated by Desert Haven, a Lancaster vocational placement center for mentally retarded adults, were seriously hurt. They were returning to the center from groundskeeper jobs at Edwards Air Force Base when the accident occurred at 110th Street East and Avenue J.

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.

Drivers are required to take an additional written exam and vehicle test to qualify for the commercial license, CHP officials said. 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.

Investigators also will cite Lear for failing to yield the right of way to the Mustang in which McCannon was a passenger, Hansen said.

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

Administrators at Desert Haven are looking into why Lear apparently failed to renew the commercial driver’s license, spokeswoman Robin Valaitis said. She described Lear as a “rehabilitation technician” who did not often drive the type of van involved in the accident.

“We are looking into the whole situation,” she said.

CHP Officer Scott McKnight said investigators will be looking into whether the center should have been aware of the license deficiency.