Mum fighting for life in hospital after driving on wrong side of road before head-on truck collision
The family of a single mum left fighting for life after she drove on the wrong side of an Australian freeway and collided head-on with a truck say the mistake could happen to anyone.
Paulina Prieto, 36, was heading home in the early hours of Friday morning when she turned at an intersection and travelled against traffic on the city-bound lanes of Melbourne’s CityLink.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Daughter of woman left fighting for life after crash urges public for help.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.She crashed head-on into a truck inside the tunnel at Burnley just after 2am and was rushed to hospital with critical injuries.
The truck driver was not injured.
“My heart just kind of stopped. I didn’t really know what to think,” Prieto’s 14-year-old daughter Monse Romero told 7NEWS.
“It was really shocking the first two days. I did cry a little bit.”
Family say the mum, who works three jobs, had a moment of confusion after taking a wrong turn, and believe her mistake could happen to anyone.
“We thought that if she had been travelling down the wrong way for such a long time there would be some signs or some signals or some sort of alerts to let her know or the other driver,” family friend Sebastian Alberti said.
“There’s a lot of questions why she wasn’t notified or why the truck driver [wasn’t] notified.”
The mother remains in an induced coma at The Alfred Hospital but is slowly making improvements each day.
“It’s hard her not talking back to me and not making the jokes we make,” her daughter said.
Her family is preparing for a long recovery and a GoFundMe has been launched to assist with costs while she is in hospital.
Originally published on 7NEWS
