Shocking moment husband and wife miraculously cheated death before drunk-driving couple’s 90mph car crash
Dashcam footage shows Natalie and Stephen Bennett approaching a bend but Richard White’s car, driving in the wrong direction, then crashes straight into them.
It was shocking moments before a drunk driver smashed into a couple’s car at 90mph in a crash where the husband and wife miraculously cheated death.
Dashcam footage shows Natalie and Stephen Bennett approaching a bend in the road at 50mph when Richard White’s Toyota Avensis suddenly swerves in the wrong direction.
Although both cars were destroyed in the 90mph impact of the collision, all three people survived.
Mrs Bennett suffered a broken ankle while her husband had to be taken to hospital after breaking two vertebrae and breaking a rib.
Mr Bennett, a scaffolder, had to undergo emergency treatment on his spine and spent 13 weeks in a body brace.
The car Natalie Bennett was driving has been pictured after she crashed head-on with a drunk driver
The dash camera shows the Toyota Avensis, driven by Richard White, heading towards the Bennetts’ car just before the impact.
She faced uncertainty over whether she would be able to return to her job, and the couple were forced to use their life savings while they recovered from their injuries.
White, 52, was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and drink-driving causing serious injury.
The couple’s victim impact statements were read out in court with Mr Bennett describing the accident as ‘a huge impact on my life’ and Mrs Bennett describing it as a ‘very traumatic event’.
White, of Charlton Mead, Charlton Marshall, Dorset, was of previous good character, the court heard.
It is also heard that he had a clean driving license and ran a joinery business in Sturminster Newton.
Richard Tutt, defending, said his client had suffered from a deterioration in his mental health in the months following the incident on the A352 near Dorchester on September 12, 2022.
He said: ‘He accepts full responsibility for what he has done.
‘He admitted he was driving too fast for the conditions shown in the crystal clear dashcam footage and that he was more than twice the drink drive limit.’
Bournemouth Crown Court heard White was also taken to hospital after the crash and interviewed by police at a later date where he made no comment.
The Bennetts were approaching a bend in the road at 50mph when Richard White’s Toyota Avensis (pictured) suddenly veered onto the wrong side of the road.
Mr Tutt said White had ‘no independent recollection of what happened’ and had since sought help for his mental well-being.
Jailing him, Judge William Mosley said: ‘This was driving while you were seriously impaired by drink and speeding in the circumstances.’
The judge said there was a good chance of rehabilitation and an impact on White’s family members, but the seriousness of the case could only be marked by an immediate prison sentence.
White was also disqualified from driving for three years.