A BOLTON victim of teenage joyriders is backing the Government's proposed blitz on speeding motorists - but has warned it is only a tiny part of the problem on the roads.

Carol Hornby, aged 49, spent 30 days in hospital recovering from horrendous injuries caused by youths travelling at speeds of about 70 mph on a quiet residential road.

The speeding stolen car ploughed into Mrs Hornby's vehicle with such an impact that it took emergency services almost an hour to free her.

More than two years after the accident, Mrs Hornby is still receiving treatment and waiting to hear whether she will have to undergo further surgery on the injuries she received that day.

The driver responsible was aged 15 at the time of the crash. He was sentenced to five months at a young offenders' institution and was disqualified from driving for five years.

His passenger, then 14, was given a supervision order for 12 months with a three-year driving ban.

Mrs Hornby backed the Government's new plans to clamp down on speeding motorists but disagreed with possible plans to cut speed limits.

She said: "Speed kills people. Unfortunately, you all too often get people speeding down roads, thinking that it somehow makes them a better driver.

"There are a lot of young drivers in particular who do not seem to realise that on a quiet road, while they might be able to race up to 50 mph, there is more often than not a bend coming up, on which they have no chance of stopping.

"What I have been through is something that people can sympathise with but they can never comprehend what destruction can be caused to a family.

"That driver served his five months and that was it, but for us the pain goes on. We have still to put our lives together. The severity of the accident and the ultimate punishment all too often do not match one another.

"But like in my case, speeding is just a small part of it all. It is only a part of what is wrong on the roads.

"I do think that the speed limits on the roads - whether it be 40mph or 30mph - are about right. And while I do not speed - in fact since the accident I am a nervous wreck now on the road - I could understand somebody being angry being punished by the police for travelling at say 45mph on a 40mph limit.

"It is the people who go beyond that who should be punished. For instance, my accident happened on a little, quiet, private road - and you do not do 70mph on a road like that." Catalogue of misery on local roads CAROL Hornby's accident is one of several to feature in a catalogue of crashes caused by reckless motorists in Bolton.

Last year a six-year-old Farnworth youngster, Tracy Kennedy, who was killed in a hit and run accident, was featured in a Government anti-speeding campaign.

About two years ago crash victim Roy Watson was killed when a stolen car travelling at 100mph on a main road ploughed into his vehicle, while back in 1991 young mother Tracey Richardson was killed by a stolen car travelling at high speed.

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