Husband describes wife's fear of traffic after she's hit by car

Published on Saturday 12 December 2009 11:11

A WOMAN who was hit by a car in Edinburgh and left seriously ill in hospital has always been "terrified of roads".

The family of Dorothy Oxley, 64, have spoken of her fear of traffic, describing her insistence on using pedestrian crossings when making her way through the city.

On Wednesday evening, the Livingston supply teacher was rushed to hospital when a car hit her on Melville Terrace shortly after 5pm – minutes after she had dropped her three-year-old grandson off at home, round the corner on Livingstone Place.

Witnesses later suggested she had been seen making her way across the road, metres from the actual pedestrian crossing.

But her husband Geoffrey, 63, said: "She's terrified of roads – she'll walk 100 yards to get to a crossing. She's always been like that – very cautious.

"I used to grab her by the arm and say we would have time to get over a road, but she would wait. There is no way Dorothy wouldn't have used that crossing – I have been on it with her so many times.

"As a family, we know she would not have crossed without the crossing."

Mrs Oxley, originally from Stoneyburn, is in intensive care at Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary suffering from a fractured skull, blood on her brain, a broken collarbone and shoulder, a fractured right wrist, broken pelvis, broken knee and broken legs near her ankles.

She was in Edinburgh for a regular visit to her son and daughter-in-law's house, on Livingstone Place, having looked after their son that afternoon.

When she was crossing the road, she was going to meet her daughter before heading back to Livingston where Mr Oxley, a civil servant, was going to collect them from the train station.

Her family have been by her bedside since the accident and although Mrs Oxley is heavily sedated, she has made contact by squeezing her loved ones' hands.

Her husband said: "It's very early days. It's going to take a while – she is smashed to pieces.

"It's like having a nightmare you cannot wake up from. Everything just goes round and round."

Mrs Oxley is a well-known supply teacher and community figure, having lived in Livingston since the early 1970s. She is a lifelong blood donor and a volunteer at the chapel at the town's St John's Hospital, helping to take patients for services from their wards.

When she was hit by the car – a green Rover 45, which was being driven west through the Meadows – the force of the collision smashed the vehicle's windscreen.

Police questioned the driver, who was later released.

A police spokesman said investigations are still ongoing.

Mr Oxley said: "Dorothy is such a well-known person – so bubbly. She's a strong woman."