Family of Vancouver doctor killed by speeder demands tougher driving laws

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The family of a doctor from Vancouver who was killed more than two years ago by a driver going almost three times the posted speed limit say they will not stop their fight to get the offending driver off the streets.

Dr. Alphonsus Hui was killed in 2015 when his Suzuki was hit by a speeding Audi being driven by Ken Chung on Oak Street. Chung was going 140km/h in a 50 km/h zone and he was found not guilty of dangerous driving causing death last month.

“We do want him to get off our roads before he hurts somebody else,” says Hui’s daughter, Monique Hui. “He has a history of repeated offences and after killing my father there was another offence in 2017.”

Monique Hui has started a petition demanding, among other things, that Chung be immediately and permanently banned from driving and that the province bring in more stringent legislation and policy that will allow repeat excessive speeders to be immediately and permanently banned from getting behind the wheel.

The petition has garnered over 60,000 signatures in the few short days it has been up and Monique has already met with Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth to present it to him.

“He has agreed to look into the issue, he will be speaking with the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles next week,” she says. “We have now seen the power of our community. Sixty-thousand people who have effected more change in a week than we have received in almost three years.”

Just days after the petition was started, Crown Counsel announced it would be appealing the verdict in Chung’s criminal trial. Monique says she and her family are feeling optimistic.

“We are hoping that in the end Mr. Chung will be found guilty,” she says. “The timeline could be upwards of 12, 18 months before that issue is resolved and we are not certain of the outcome.”

In the meantime, Hui says she will be searching for the change and justice her family failed to get through the courts by vocally advocating for it herself, with the support of those behind her petition.

“It has been very difficult, I still grieve my father every day, I miss him terribly, nothing has changed from two and a half years ago,” she says. “My family has suffered deeply and we were hoping with the criminal trial that happened in January that one part of it could be put to bed but that didn’t happen when the acquittal was announced last month.”

Not the first time

We’ve seen similar cases before of drivers with either one or several offences on their record walk free.

Last month a man who hit and killed a cyclist in Richmond two years ago was sentenced to a one year driving ban and a $1,800 fine but no jail time.

Michael Fan pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention in the death of Bradley Dean on Nov. 6, 2016.

Dean was out with a group of friends for a Sunday morning bike ride when a car, driven by Fan, heading in the opposite direction swerved into their lane and ran them down. Two other cyclists were also severely hurt. Fan pleaded guilty to the charges, which fall under the province’s Motor Vehicle Act.

He admitted he was out partying with friends the day before and may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Dean’s family voiced their anger about the decision, adding the case should be tried as a criminal case and not that of a traffic violation.

Also in May, the driver of a Ferrari, who was previously clocked at three times the posted speed limit, was handed a $750 fine and a 16-month driving ban.

Twenty-three-year-old Yihao Wang was busted doing 210 km/h in a 60 km/h zone on the Lions Gate Bridge in the summer of 2017. It was his fourth offence in two years.