A Yorkshire woman who was 22 weeks pregnant when a suspected drink driver smashed into her has spoken of the devastation the crash has had on her life.
The crash happened in April 2021. Tanya spoke to West Yorkshire Police about the lasting impact, now 19 months on. Tanya was on a road she drove on regularly, when she saw a car whizzing around the corner on the wrong side of the road at a high speed.
Tanya said: “My first instincts were ‘God, he’s going too quick’. Then I thought, ‘I’ve got nowhere to go’. I just gripped onto the steering wheel and that’s probably one of the last things I remember.”
Footage shows the car smashing into Tanya’s Land Rover, sending the car into the air, the impact swivelling it on its axis. The driver’s car then flew into an embankment further down the road.
She was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary’s major trauma unit and spent four to five days in hospital. She sustained various cuts and bruises, a major cut to the middle of her forehead, behind her ear, a dislocated shoulder, and torn deltoid ligament injury. She is still waiting on surgery.
Tanya has been under the care of a neurologist, as she’s experienced recurring problems with her memory and speech. While she was in hospital, the driver failed to provide a sample to test whether he’d been driving under the influence of either drink or drugs.
Tears bursting from her eyes while recounting the harrowing night, Tanya said: “I asked a member of the hospital staff whether or not he was okay, and then that came out. It wasn’t very nice. Not only will it have consequences, for their life, but the person who they have a collision with, or they run into, it changes their life forever.”
The driver involved was convicted of failing to provide a specimen, and jailed for 12 months and banned from driving for three and half years. Tanya successfully went through her pregnancy and had a healthy baby boy.
CCTV of the crash
(Image: WYP)
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