A MOTHER spoke of her family’s miracle escape after a horror crash near Dorchester.
Jen Mitchell, 29, today praised the emergency services and others who ran to help after her husband and two daughters were involved in a pile-up following a high-speed collision on the A35 near the Friary Press.
The mum-of-four spoke as it was revealed drivers and motorcyclists had notched up 10,000 times in the No Excuse road safety campaign.
The cause of Saturday’s collision is not known and police are continuing to make inquiries.
But Mrs Mitchell said she backed the safety campaign, which aims to crack down on dangerous driving in the count, and she has urged drivers ‘not to take risks’.
Her husband Jason Mitchell, 38, was driving a silver Peugeot 306 carrying their seven-year-old daughter Charlie and their nine-year-old daughter Kyla.
They were on their way from the family home in Worthing, West Sussex, to pick up Mrs Mitchell from Plymouth when they were involved in a collision involving two other cars.
The dad-of-four is still in hospital at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester suffering a broken leg, knee and ankle.
He has also had to undergo major surgery where a metal frame has been placed in his broken leg.
The two children, who were discharged from hospital on Sunday, escaped serious injuries and have mainly been left with cuts and bruises.
A woman was treated at the scene while two men suffered serious injuries.
Police, firefighters, paramedics and the air ambulance all attended.
Mrs Mitchell said that Charlie ‘looked like she had 10 rounds with Mike Tyson’ due to severe facial bruising. She said: “I just want to say a massive thank you to the emergency services and anyone else who might have helped at the scene.
“If it wasn’t for them acting as quickly as they did, I could have lost half of my family.
“I could have gone from a family of six to a family of three.
“Apparently Kyla had a fit in the front seat and somebody dragged her out and someone also smashed the back window to pull Charlie out.
“This could have been a passer-by so I’d also like to thank them.
“All three of them could have died and they are all lucky to be alive – I’m lucky too.”
Mrs Mitchell, who also has two sons, Adrian 13, and Josh, seven, added: “I definitely support the No Excuse campaign and I would urge drivers not to take risks.”
Dorchester fire station commander Steve Cheeseman said: “We are really pleased that everyone has survived this incident.
“Given its serious nature, it was one of the smoothest, technically, that we have worked on.”
The two other cars involved were a silver Chrysler Neon and a red Ford Puma, both registered to Dorset drivers.
A 55-year-old man from the Neon was taken to Dorset County Hospital with serious chest and back injuries while a 56-year-old man was airlifted to Poole Hospital with serious facial injuries.
A 40-year-old woman driving the Ford was treated at the scene.
A Dorset Police spokesman said: “We wish all those involved a speedy recovery.”
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