A “beautiful” young mother was killed when she drove home drunk and hit a tree. She had been out celebrating becoming a paramedic.
When Sarah Smith, a 32-year-old former soldier, got into her Audi A1 in October of last year, she was almost three times the legal limit and she lost control of the vehicle.
After firefighters removed Sarah from her car, she was taken by ambulance to Royal Preston Hospital, where doctors battled to save her but she was declared dead the following day.
A Preston Coroner’s Court inquest heard that Sarah was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision and that there were no defects in her vehicle, according to LancsLive.
She failed to apply the brakes after her car left the road, as evidenced by marks on the pavement and grassy area.
PC Brendan Williams said: “There weren’t any witnesses but there was some CCTV from a property which showed the latter stage of the collision.
“The vehicle had just negotiated a right-hand bend. It just appeared that the driver had continued to turn right and then left the road. There was no attempt to return back to the carriageway and no evidence the vehicle was braking.
“If a vehicle is braking when it goes onto the grass, which was very soggy at the time, the wheels tend to lock before the ABS releases and you get drag marks that pull the grass up but there was no evidence that was the case.
“There was nothing that suggested anything other than driver error.”
PC Williams added her blood alcohol reading was 228mcg which is almost three times the legal limit for driving of 80mcg.
Sarah’s liver was “shattered and in multiple parts,” according to the results of a post-mortem CT scan.
Traumatic liver injury was listed as the cause of death.
She had been celebrating passing her paramedic exams prior to getting into her car on the night in question, according to Assistant Coroner Kate Bisset, who came to the conclusion that there had been a road traffic collision.
“Sarah Smith died on October 13, 2022, at the Royal Preston Hospital from injuries sustained in a road traffic collision.
“She had consumed alcohol before getting into her vehicle.”
After Sarah’s death, friends raised more than £6,000 to help her husband Peter pay for “the send-off she deserves”.
