A teenage learner driver from March says an accident on the A47 involving the car in which she was being taught to drive and a lorry, won’t put her off passing her test.
Candice Hodkinson said she “had a panic attack” after being involved in the car accident during a driving lesson last Friday afternoon (May 18).
She said: “It’s something that happens and luckily for me it wasn’t as bad as some cases.
“The accident has not put me off driving and I shall be returning as soon as my driving instructor’s car has been fixed. “
Candice said: “We were nearing the end of the lesson and I was driving down the A47, there was a lot of traffic so I was keeping the gap between me and the vehicle in front.
“I had seen that the vehicle in front was braking slightly so I did too so I could keep the gap.
“All of a sudden my driving instructor was telling me to get off the brake. In my mind I thought I had done something wrong and that’s when the lorry had hit us.”
Candice, who works for March-based steel fabricators Artistic Metalica, has been learning to drive with You Drive School of Motoring for around five months and says until now it had been incident free.
The 17-year-old is now suffering with whiplash and “shoulder problems” but says the accident will not put her off driving again and she is keen to get back behind the wheel of her instructor’s car.
She said: “My instructor reacted very calm and patient and he kept reassuring me that it was not my fault, he called the police and spoke to the lorry driver.
“I am still focused on passing my test, I wouldn’t let it put me off as it’s something you don’t expect to happen, but you will never overcome that if you don’t get back behind the wheel.”
Last Friday’s accident on the A47 took place between Guyhirn and Thorney Toll and involved a HGV lorry and the driving school’s car being driven by Candice.
Cambridgeshire Police confirmed that the occupants had no life threatening injuries.
The incident happened around 4.30pm and caused rush hour delays.
Police confirmed an ambulance attended but was not needed. The lorry driver, too, escaped injury.
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