Road smash has left us all traumatised
Mum urges drivers not to drink
A Cambuslang mum has warned road users to never drink and drive after a drunk apparently ploughed into her car with four young children inside – including her new born baby.
Shannon McClymont, 22, spoke out after statistics revealed that one in 30 drivers stopped in Scotland during the festive season last year were over the legal limit.
She claims her vehicle was hit in North Lanarkshire earlier this year.
The driver was later found to be more than six times over the drink and drive limit.
The incident has traumatised Shannon’s nine-year-old cousin Bradley who now refuses to get back in a car.
And the mum-of-one suffered whiplash during the collision which subsequently wrote off her car. Now Shannon has warned drivers to leave their vehicle at home if they are consuming any amount of alcohol.
She explained: “I had my new born baby in the car, it could have ruined her life.
“When you sit back and think about it, there was a whole family in that car that could have been wiped out. It was so irresponsible.
“I would say don’t even think about going in the car if you have had a drink.
“I’m still shaken up. I’ve had to go to physio for my back and at the time I could barely lift my baby.
“It’s affected him [Bradley] the most and now he is having to see a psychologist. Bradley was so distraught, he’s quite a sensitive wee boy.”
No charges were brought against the driver for allegedly striking Sharon’s car, but they were disqualified from driving for three years and forced to carry out unpaid work for drink driving.
Shannon added: “I was shocked. Obviously I had a new born baby in the car so I got out and went straight to her. She was okay, a bit upset but the three kids were screaming, they were really emotional.
“We were lucky because people from the houses over the road came over to help us.”
The latest move towards making it socially unacceptable for drivers to touch alcohol came as police warned of a rising tide of drink driving in the run up to Christmas.
During their campaign last year, one in 30 stopped were over the limit compared to one in 35 over the same period in the previous year.
It was also revealed that the number of breath tests increased from 16,225 to 18,895 and police said there would be even more patrols over this festive period.