Trinity Lapham was just trying to pick up groceries in Burnie when she ended up at the Royal Hobart Hospital after her own car rolled over her.
The 18-year-old suffered broken ribs, a tear to her liver and a collapsed lung after the handbrake on her Nissan Patrol failed at the Marine Terrace Multi-Storey Car Park on Saturday morning.
Lapham, who only got her licence this year, had pulled into the car park at around 11:30am when she realised her four-wheel-drive was too tall for her to reach the ticket machine from the driver’s seat.
She said she put the handbrake on and got out to collect a ticket.
But as she stood between the vehicle’s front and rear wheels, the Patrol began rolling down the sloped driveway.
“The rear tyre rolled over my foot then pulled my leg under,” she told Pulse.
The car rolled up the right side of her body, trapping her foot, hip, ribs and arm beneath the tyre.
She said thought she was going to die.
“I was pretty scared,” she said.
Luckily, there was a car behind her and the driver called an ambulance.
Paramedics arrived about 15 minutes later and took Lapham to the North West Regional Hospital, where she spent about six hours undergoing scans and treatment.
When doctors discovered she had a tear in her liver, she was airlifted to the Royal Hobart Hospital, arriving about 8pm on Saturday.
Her car, meanwhile, came to a stop without damaging anything else.
“The car magically ended up in a curb,” she said.
“It didn’t damage anyone else’s car or the boulevard or anything else. It just decided to take me out.”
Lapham was still recovering in hospital but was able to see the funny side of her unexpected trip south.
“I was just trying to get my groceries,” she said.
“Bit far away from Coles.”
She had one simple piece of advice for other drivers after the ordeal.
“People need to check their handbrakes,” she said.
