Heroic mum pushes pram out of the way before being hit by a drunk driver

“Please don't drink and drive because it ruins your life and the life of the person that you hit,” urges mum Becky. 

Mum-of-three Becky looked both ways and crossed the street with her baby Lorena in a pram in front of her. 

But around the corner was Dale Clark, a scaffolder who was speeding at 40 mph (64 km/h) in a 30mph (48 km/h) zone. 

The car swerved through the inside lane just as the British mum walked across the street, prompting her to push the pram out of the way before being struck by the oncoming car. 

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this. 

The heroic mum pushed her baby out of harm's way before being hit by the oncoming car. Source: BBC

Mum pushes pram away before being hit by drunk driver

The pram overturned on the edge of the road, but thankfully, baby Lorena was unharmed. 

Her mum, however, wasn’t as lucky, being struck by the car and thrown through the air “like a rag doll.” 

RELATED: Perth mum pleads for driver to come forward after hitting 12yo on way to school

After hitting the mum, Dale sped off in his Toyota RAV4, leaving Becky lying unconscious in the middle of the busy road in Bournemouth, England. 

She suffered near-fatal brain trauma, a broken leg, pelvis, ribs and a fractured skull, leaving her in a coma for eight weeks and requiring long-term medical care. 

Left without the assistance of a wheelchair, she had to re-learn how to walk with the help of nurses and physiologists from Poole Hospital. 

“I had to learn to walk again, basically,” she told the BBC. “I had to learn to walk with the nurses and staff here, and they've been brilliant - every one of them.”

RELATED: Driver behind viral dashcam clip of girl being hit by car breaks silence

The mum-of-three is re-learning to walk. Source: BBC

Mum-of-three “stuck with a brain injury for life”

After fleeing the scene, a witness memorised his number plate and monitored the news of a hit-and-run in Bournemouth hours after the crash. 

The driver pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and drink driving, confessing he had consumed vodka and cocaine in the two days before the collision.

“You quite clearly were not looking where you were going, and you hit [Becky],” Judge William Mousley told Dale at Bournemouth Crown Court, per Daily Mail. 

“Very luckily and miraculously, she had pushed the pushchair ahead of her so you did not collide with her youngest child.

“The overall picture is that her life has been changed seriously forever. The impact on her and her family has been monumental,” he added. 

Dale was sentenced to three years and eight months following the incident, but Becky and her family argue he should have been given a lengthier sentence. 

“I think he should have got a lot more [jail time] than he did,” she said per the BBC.  “I'm stuck with a brain injury for life, so he should have got life, really.” 

Despite her horrific injuries, Becky is currently on the mend. 

“You start out at the beginning being told your wife may die, so you have to just give over control and just take each day, but we're very lucky with her recovery given what the potential prognosis was,” said her husband.

As for Becky, she urged others to think twice before getting behind the wheel.

“Please don't drink and drive or do drugs and drive because it ruins your life and the life of the person that you hit,” she said. 

Originally published as Heroic mum pushes pram out of the way before being hit by a drunk driver