Hampshire mum injured by metal pole through windscreen
Fiona Saunders told ITV News Meridian's Lucy Warhurst she's still getting vivid flashbacks two weeks after the traumatising incident.
A Hampshire mum who was injured when a large metal pole crashed through her car windscreen, is calling on drivers to take care when tying down loads.
Fiona Saunders from Cowplain was driving along Portsdown Hill Road on 18 December when an unsecured pole came off another vehicle and impaled her car.Mrs Saunders said: "The next thing there was just noise and pain. I was sat in the car, covered in glass with this great big pole sat next to me."
"I originally thought it had come through the centre of the windscreen but it actually came through the driver side of the windscreen but at an angle."
"It took my left hand off the steering wheel and went into the passenger seat."
The incident left her with a severe arm injury, which was down to the bone. She will need physiotherapy to help regain the strength in her arm, however Mrs Saunders says it could have been much worse.
She said: "I am so lucky, there's no denying that, I am so lucky."
"A couple more inches the wrong way and it would have been a different story. Or if I'd have had a passenger or my children in the car, it doesn't bear thinking about."
Fiona says the situation could have been a lot worse had she had a passenger in the car
Mrs Saunders says the other driver did not stop, but believes they may not have been aware of what happened.
She says she would like them to be identified in order for them to take financial responsibility and realise the consequences of having an unsecured load.
"It's not worth taking the risk of not checking, double checking, triple checking that everything is as secure as it possibly can be."
Fiona has thanked the emergency services, along with the off-duty paramedic and patient transport driver who stopped to help her.
She said: "I was very very, fortunate. The Police arrived really quickly and then the ambulance crew afterwards and I just couldn't be more thankful for their hard work and support."
Two weeks on, she says she is still suffering vivid flashbacks. She hopes that in sharing her story, she will help prevent it happening to someone else.
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Constabulary has been approached for comment.
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