12:00pm Monday 30th November 2009
A FRENCH teacher may have survived a horror crash on a danger road because she was at the wheel of a left-hand drive car.
Nadine Merciere, a French teacher at Little Lever School, was driving along Belmont Road towards Abbey Village when a silver Peugeot 206 tried to overtake a van which was travelling in the opposite direction, and collided with her car.
One witness said: “Had it been a right-hand drive I don’t think she would have made it.”
The emergency services were called to the scene at 4.45pm on Friday.
The teacher, aged 31, who suffered serious injuries, had to be cut from her red Renault Clio by firefighters and was taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital by ambulance.
She had been returning to her home in Blackburn after finishing work for the day.
The driver of the Peugeot 206, a 36-year-old man from Blackburn, did not suffer serious injuries and tried to walk away from the collision. He was stopped by passers-by who kept him at the scene until police arrived.
His passenger, a 32-year-old woman, was also taken to hospital.
Nicola Savage, aged 35, from Bromley Cross, was returning from work in Blackburn when she saw the accident.
She said: “I got out to see if I could help because I have been trained in first aid.
“The lady in the Clio had hit her face and she was drifting in and out of consciousness so we just tried to keep her talking.
“Thankfully it was a left-hand drive. Had it been a right-hand drive, I don’t think she would have made it. It was completely smashed in on that side.
“There was no front on the other car, it was completely smashed in.
“The driver had walked off. He had walked down the road towards Bolton. Some of the other drivers brought him back.”
It is understood the driver of the Peugeot 206 had been drinking and was wearing an electronically monitored tag around his ankle.
Philip Hewitt, headteacher at Little Lever School, said he was upset to hear of the accident.
He said: “I hope that she is okay and that she will make a full recovery.
“She has only been at the school for four weeks but in that time she has made a very good impression.
“She has worked really well with the students in a very short space of time. We have just extended her contract for next term.
“We wish her a full and speedy recovery. We will be in contact with her family.”
A spokesman for Lancashire Police confirmed the force was investigating the incident.
A 36-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of being unfit to drive through drink or drugs, on suspicion of possessing a controlled drugs of Class B and of failing to stop after an accident. He remained in police custody last night.
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