AN E-SCOOTER rider broke her leg in multiple places after a head-on crash with a car caused by a driver’s “momentary lapse” in concentration.

On the morning of January 25 last year, at around 7.30am, Aileta Oldak was riding an e-scooter into work along Traston Road in Newport.

She was wearing a winter jacket where “the colours reflected brightly”, and had her headlight on, prosecutor Paul Hewitt said.

She saw a vehicle approaching, which belonged to Gareth Lewis, 40, of Howe Circle in Newport.

“There were no indicators flashing so she proceeded on her course,” said Mr Hewitt. “Suddenly the vehicle turned across her path as the defendant turned into his place of work.

“She hit the front of the car and hit the windscreen. The scooter flipped over the car, hitting the back of it.

“She had broken bones. Bones she could see sticking out of her leg. She screamed to call for an ambulance.

“She heard the defendant’s voice saying ‘It’s my fault, I didn’t see her’.”

One of Ms Oldak’s colleagues came out and applied first aid to stop the bleeding from her head. Her right leg was broken “in a number of places” and she had “extensive bruising around her face”.

In a statement read out in court, Ms Oldak described herself as “full of life” before the crash, but “the accident has changed all that”.

She described the physical and mental pain she was still suffering, and that she was still unable to walk “properly”.

“I can’t believe I survived,” she said. “I could have died. I could have been paralysed.

“That day changed my life completely.”

Lewis – who has no previous convictions – was not speeding at the time of the crash.

Thomas Evans, defending, said Lewis was “genuinely remorseful” and had “repeatedly apologised to Ms Oldak”, as well as helping getting the ambulance to the crash.

Mr Evans said Lewis would have been able to spot the complainant from around 40 metres away, and his reactions were “a fraction of a second” off the average person’s reaction time on this occasion.

Lewis had reacted after between 2.9 and 4.1 seconds, Mr Evans said, whereas the average reaction time was between one and two seconds.

Addressing Lewis, Judge Matthew Porter-Bryant said: “Your driving on this occasion fell below the standard expected of users of the road.

“It may well have been a momentary lapse, but it brought with it serious consequences.”

Lewis was fined £360 at Newport Crown Court. He was handed five penalty points, and was ordered to pay a £36 victim surcharge.

“You leave here with that fine and those penalty points, but I urge you to consider the effect your momentary lapse had upon Ms Oldak,” Judge Porter-Bryant said.

Turning to the complainant, he added: “Ms Oldak, I hope that you continue to make some form of recovery from your physical and psychological injuries.”