Kim and Michael Whitelum have endured the “year from hell” following the devastating hit and run incident which took the life of their son Steele.

The 19-year-old had been walking along Old Coast Road with two friends in the early hours of January 1, 2009, when the trio was struck by a vehicle.

Steele sustained massive head injuries and died later in hospital after his life support machine was switched off.

Another teenager was also badly injured as a result of the incident.

Within half an hour of the alleged hit and run police had spoken to a 17-year-old Falcon male in connection with the incident.

The teenager, who cannot be named, was charged with dangerous driving causing death.

He has pleaded guilty and is due to be sentenced in the Perth Children’s Court on March 9.

But the Whitelums are not convinced a satisfactory punishment can be handed down due to the fact that the boy was not an adult at the time of the incident.

Now, having just observed the one-year anniversary of their son’s death, Mr and Mrs Whitelum remain committed to getting “hypocritical” driving laws changed.

“Why do they give licenses to children?” Mrs Whitelum said.

“They’re not mature enough.”

Mr Whitelum agreed and said the law surrounding juvenile drivers was contradictory.

“On the one hand young drivers are treated as adults but if they cause a serious crash or kill someone they are tried as children,” he said.

“You can’t have it both ways.”

The grieving parents said they would like to see the driving age increased “to at least 18” to give youths “time to mature and understand the responsibilities of driving”.

In support of the Whitelums campaign, Mrs Whitelum’s brother placed a full-page advertisement in a metropolitan newspaper last week urging people to lobby the government to make the legislative changes.

“We can’t change the past, but we can help change the future,” Mr Whitelum said.