A woman has been “left in limbo” after the death of her daughter who suffered horrific injuries when she was struck by a drunk driver.
Kara Prentice, 30, died this year after being struck while getting into a taxi in New Brighton, Merseyside, in September 2018.
She was rushed to a major trauma unit with brain injuries, organ damage and multiple broken bones in her body and face.
Kara, a mother-of-three, remained in hospital for nearly two years, having had both her legs and part of the left side of her body amputated.
She died as a result of her injuries on June 4 this year, Liverpool Echo reports.
In the run-up to Christmas, her mum Marie Bruce has issued a plea for everyone to be more accountable.
She said: “It’s Christmas so people are more likely to go out and have a drink, maybe more than usual.
“Of course it’s everyone’s right to go out and enjoy themselves, that’s absolutely fine but people need to also know how their drinking could cause devastation.
“The wait times for taxis around this time of year get ridiculous and people are left waiting and waiting but then for some of those people they’ll be waiting for so long that they’re going to get in their car and drive home and in doing that they’re risking the lives of others.”
On September 8, 2018, Kara was struck by driver Rebecca Hodgson, 38, who sped down a road in a black Renault Megane.
An expert report concluded Hodgson was travelling between 50 and 55mph on a 30mph road prior to the crash.
Maria said her life has been “in limbo” since losing her daughter and that the festive period was a particularly challenging time for her as she missed her daughter particularly.
“To lose a loved one is difficult any time of the year but at Christmas, it must be so hard,” she continued.
“Kara loved Christmas, she lived for it – she loved everything about the Christmas period, Halloween, bonfire night, but especially Christmas. So for her not to be here, it’s so hard.
“When you’re out shopping for Christmas presents and you see something and think of a person you love and think to yourself ‘they’d really like that and then you remember they’re not here anymore – it’s something nobody should go through.”
The devastated mum said she is making it her mission to save at least one family from having to go through the “nightmare” she has had to encounter since the incident over two years ago.
She is calling on landlords, owners and staff in bars and restaurants to act if they are aware of people who are intending to drink-drive.
Maria said: “My main concern is often landlords will know which of their regulars are going to have more than the limit and will then get in their car and drive home.
“At the end of the day, they’re serving someone a drink knowing they’re getting into a killing machine that can devastate the lives of others.”
While she said she understands that landlords and bar workers can’t prevent everyone from making the choice to get in their car after a drink, they can act on the “known” culprits who they are already aware of.
She added: “At the minute I just want landlords to step up on their known drink drivers.
“In one pub I believe there’s at least one person who has one too many and chooses to leave that pub and get into their car to drive home.
“If they could just eliminate one person from doing that, that’s one life saved or one fatality avoided.
“It’s one set of parents not going through what I’m going through and one family that doesn’t have to suffer devastation.”
Currently in UK law, while it is an offence to “knowingly sell or attempt to sell alcohol to a person who is drunk”, there are no legal obligations currently in place to make the staff act to prevent someone from drink driving.
All premises that are permitted to sell alcohol are required to take “reasonable steps to prevent drunk driving” as part of their licensing obligations, but they are not currently held accountable in the event a person does commit an offence related to drunk driving.
Maria said: “If there was a deterrent in place that a landlord could lose their license, they would be more aware and skeptical to serve someone who they know will leave and get into their car.”
