Horrifying moment woman driving on motorway smashing into oncoming traffic
This is the shocking moment footage showing a drunk woman driving the wrong way[1] along the motorway before crashing into oncoming traffic has been released.
The video shows 65-year-old Dorothy Denny smashing her car Mini into a Vauxhall Astra driven by 30-year-old Carly Pope.
Pope suffered a broken arm in two places, whiplash, cuts, bruises and soft tissue damage while a male passenger suffered whiplash and bruising, while Denny sustained broken ribs.
At the scene, she provided a roadside screening breath test that was over three times the legal limit.
In an interview, Denny said she had received some sad news that had caused her to end a long period of abstinence.
Girl, 14, in school uniform fined £100 on train after guard said she was adult[2]
Dorothy Denny drove the wrong way down the motorway (
Gloucester News Service GNS)
The video was released by Gloucestershire police to warn of the 'stark' dangers of drink and drug driving.
It is hoped that the shocking video, alongside the harrowing account of the victim, whose life has been badly affected by the crash, will act as a sobering warning ahead of the summer months.
The incident happened just after midnight on October last year, shortly after police received a number of 999 calls from people reporting a Mini Cooper driving the wrong way on the southbound carriageway of the M5, north of junction 9 at Tewkesbury.
The CCTV of the motorway smash (
PA)
A short time later officers came upon the scene of a head-on collision near Strensham Services involving the Mini and a Vauxhall Astra.
Two lorries were also struck and damaged in the incident, which left debris strewn across the carriageway.
Denny later admitted to consuming alcohol before driving to the BP garage on Ashchurch Road in Tewkesbury to buy milk and more alcohol.
After leaving the forecourt she said she turned left instead of right for her home address, then went around the roundabout in order to get back off at Ashchurch Road.
But instead of getting off at that exit she accidentally took the prior left-hand turn, the M5 southbound off-slip, and then travelled up the motorway on the southbound side.
Believing herself to be in lane one but actually in lane three, she carried on driving against the flow of traffic for over two miles before colliding head-on with the Astra and striking both HGVs.
The damage to the car
In the interview, Denny said she had been in a distressed and confused state and when she realised what she had done couldn't find a gap to get across to the hard shoulder.
Carly Pope, a personal trainer from Bristol, said: “My arm was so badly snapped that I had to be given local anaesthetic in order for two grown men to pull and realign the bones before putting me in a plaster cast.
“The rest of my superficial injuries healed in good time but my arm was excruciating for weeks while it was in the cast and it is still extremely painful.
This image shows a crumbled up car
"I was told that one of the bones healed longer than before the accident and one healed shorter, which means I will be permanently visibly disfigured and may never regain full range of motion (at least not without pain) ever again. I still have pain in my neck and shoulder from the jolt of the collision and all three areas are so stiff and uncomfortable, especially in the mornings.
“Following the incident, I have had breakdowns as a passenger on the motorway at night, I have vivid nightmares when I do manage to sleep and I don't feel as though I will ever be as confident a driver as I once was.
"I am now so detached from my job due to my reduced ability and confidence to teach, that I have been signed off by my doctor three times since the accident. It is now at the point where I may have to change my career entirely and that breaks my heart.
Two of those injured suffered whiplash
PC Stuart Dudfield said: "When you see the collision and how close the drink driver came to then crashing head-on with a lorry, it is a miracle no one died in this.
"No one expects to see a car heading straight at them on the motorway and it must have been a terrifying few moments for Carly, her passenger and the other motorists who were forced to take evasive action.
"The injuries experienced by Carly were severe, on top of the lasting trauma she has described.
"In all my years' experience in roads policing this has got to be one of the starkest examples of what can happen when you drink drive or drive whilst impaired."
Denny was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court for causing serious injury by dangerous driving and drink driving.
She was given a 20-month suspended prison sentence, £10,000 fine and banned from driving for 10 years.