LUCKY TO BE ALIVE - DRINK DRIVE WARNING
A young woman who was lucky to survive an early morning car crash after drinking the night before has urged people never to drink and drive.
Recruitment manager Joanna Hough was just 28 when she was put on a life support machine and her family told she would probably not survive a catalogue of horrendous injuries.
Carried unconscious from the wreckage after being impaled on her car door frame, Joanna suffered a fractured skull, burst artery in her face, broken ribs, two punctured lungs, shattered hip, dislocated hip, broken leg and ankle and internal injuries. She was revived twice by doctors.
She underwent countless operations including plastic surgery to her face, hip operations and surgery to put in plates to repair her broken bones. Wheelchair bound for six months, Joanna was later on crutches and had to learn how to walk again.
Joanna has now just completed an alcohol rehabilitation course in Congleton – 18 months after the accident - run by driver training specialists the TTC Group after being banned from driving for two years and fined £100 with £150 costs by Crewe magistrates for drink driving.
The single girl who used to enjoy kick boxing and going to the gym three times a week says she has been turned into a “virtual hermit” unable to work and reliant on family and friends.
“I lost my job, my home and my health that day. Now I want everyone to know what happened to me to deter them from ever drinking any alcohol before driving a car.”
That fateful day, Joanna had got up early to take a friend to the railway station after drinking almost two bottles of wine while watching TV the evening before.
“I felt fine. I didn’t feel bad. I wasn’t drunk. I had no idea I was over the drink drive limit. I would never deliberately drink and drive. The accident wasn’t my fault but it was a head on collision which simply ended my life as I knew it.
“After going on the TTC course I believe that everyone should know about driving the morning after. I would never have driven if I had known I was still over the limit. People must know about this so that they don’t ever suffer what I and my family have gone through.”
TTC trainer Martin Bowen, who ran the course in Congleton, Cheshire attended by Joanna and other convicted drink drivers, said she had suffered horrendous injuries in the crash at Sandbach.
“The vast majority of people have no idea about the morning after. They may feel a bit rough, have a headache but don’t associate it with being over the drink drive limit. It doesn’t occur to them that the effects of alcohol are still there,” he said.
Joanna, a trained accountant, of Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, who has just gained an NVQ in beauty therapy and is opening her own holistic therapy business, says she is still suffering from the effects of that morning car crash in July 2005.
Now suffering from arthritis she is awaiting a hip replacement, sees a psychiatrist for depression and her father has had a nervous breakdown because of the tragedy.
“The impact to my life and the life of my family will be with us forever. I urge people not to drink any alcohol when driving and to remember me when they think about driving after drinking the night before.
For more information about education courses – which are also run for the corporate sector – contact the TTC Group on 0845 270 4380 or visit www.ttc-uk.com
