DENVER -- The CALL7 Investigators have learned there are hundreds of Colorado drivers who never lost their licenses even though they have killed someone in a crash. Those drivers were handed a four point traffic ticket and it takes 12 points to lose your license if you're over 21.

In April, pianist Bruce Patterson was sitting in his car waiting to make a turn onto Weld County Road 17, on his way to the University of Northern Colorado, where he mentored music students.

According to the police report, his car was rear-ended hard enough to push it into oncoming traffic, where it was hit head-on at high speed by a pickup truck.

Patterson and the driver of the pickup truck were both killed.

The woman whose vehicle rear-ended Patterson's suffered injuries, said the police report.

"[The police] said there's been an accident and my mind went immediately, 'Is it Bruce?" said Patterson's wife, Arlene. "They said 'yes' and I said, 'Is he dead?' I think I said that hoping they'd say 'well, no but'... and they said, 'yes.'"

CALL7 Investigator John Ferrugia learned the 19-year-old driver was cited for two counts of "Careless Driving Resulting in Injury or Death" and, in Colorado, each citation carries a four-point violation on a person's license. The eight points she received is 1 point shy of the 9 needed for her license to be suspended, since she is under 21.

"Before she would have her license taken away, she could kill three people," Bruce Patterson's teenage daughter Fiona told Ferrugia.

"[Fiona] lost her coach. She had her own private chamber music coach right here in the family," said Arlene Patterson. "I think you need to do something that stops that [driver]. Just stop. Don't get in a car again for at least 12 months."

The 19-year-old driver charged in Bruce Patterson's death has pleaded not guilty in court and is scheduled for trial in December.

In another case, Bill Smith was riding his scooter in Lakewood in July when a 49-year-old woman pulled a u-turn in front of him at 17th and Eaton.

"She clipped him and he flew over her car," said Smith's common-law wife, Carol Cordova.

Smith was killed and the driver was charged with careless driving, but could still get behind the wheel.

"When I heard she was charged with careless driving resulting in death, I would think [she'd have to take] driving classes or have her license taken away," Cordova said.

The CALL7 Investigators have learned there are hundreds of drivers in Colorado, convicted in another person's death, and are still driving. Analysis of state records shows about eight hundred tickets are written statewide each year, charging a driver with "Careless Driving Resulting in Injury or Death." The records, and the charges, do not differentiate between injury and death on the ticket, so the CALL7 Investigators compared tickets written to fatal accidents in Colorado.

We found about forty tickets each year connected to fatal accidents meaning that since 2000, about 400 drivers were ticketed for crashes that killed another person, and the at-fault driver could remain behind the wheel barring any past or subsequent traffic violations.

There is also the potential for jail time up to one year and fines for the convicted driver, but he or she could retain their license and jail time is unusual for first time offenders.

"If you run a stop sign, it's a four-point violation. Killing someone and running a stop sign are two different things and shouldn't be treated equally," said Speaker of the Colorado House, Terrance Carroll D-Denver.

CALL7 Investigators compared Colorado's law to neighboring states where an accident resulted in death, and the at-fault driver was not drunk, on drugs or driving recklessly.

In Nebraska, a conviction under those circumstances automatically assigns 12 points to a person's license and the driver will lose his or her license for six months. Kansas does not use a point system. However, according to the Kansas attorney general's office, a conviction results in the revocation of the driver's license unless a judge determines a lesser penalty. Wyoming law is similar to Kansas.

After reviewing the results of the CALL7 Investigation, Carroll said it's time for Colorado's legislature to consider tougher penalties.

"At the very least, when you have been convicted of careless driving resulting in death, you should lose your privilege to drive in the state of Colorado for some period of time. You should be forced to stay out of your car and to reflect on what you have done and then go through some type of training before you can even get your license back," said Carroll.

He believes such a mandatory suspension and further training would not cost taxpayers.

"Why shouldn't you pay for you own defensive driving course?" said Carroll.

Senate president Brandon Shaffer, D-Boulder, agreed and told 7NEWS, "If you're involved in an accident, and you are at fault, you did something wrong to cause that accident. You should probably lose your license, at least for a period of time."

"It's unfair that you can take somebody's life and just have a couple points taken off your license," said Shaffer.

Arlene told Ferrugia, "Truly it has to change. It won't bring my husband back, but maybe if the law is changed it would save someone else's life."