A WOMAN has highlighted the need for drivers to be more vigilant as the evenings get darker after a hit and run left her with broken ribs.

Shaznay Lewis, 20, was hit by a car while walking to her sister’s house from work in Yarmouth Road in Poole on September 28.

The driver then fled the scene after hurling abuse at Ms Lewis, leaving her in “complete shock”.

She said: “At about 4.30pm I looked right and left and a car wasn’t coming.

“I sped up and a car hit my right hand, I thought [the driver] would stop. She continued going at about 15 or 20mph, my bag went everywhere, I was in a complete state of shock.

“She called me a ‘silly *****’ and said I should have been looking where I was going, I was taken aback by that completely.

“We are approaching that time of year where it gets quite dark very early, I think drivers should be more vigilant.

“I can’t lift my right arm the full way and I have had nothing but bad dreams about it, I just feel quite traumatised.

“I am now more scared, I have two cracked ribs and it’s a long healing process. I just want to get back into my day-to-day routine.”

Ms Lewis said she also suffered a damaged cartilage and a sprained right hand.

She said the lady who hit her was not apologetic and questioned why she thought it was “acceptable”.

“I don’t know what frame of mind she was in but that’s no excuse,” she added. “I won’t feel the same for some time.”

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: “We received a report at 4.41pm on Tuesday, September 28 of a collision involving a car and a pedestrian on Yarmouth Road in Poole, at a crossing near to the junction with Guest Avenue.

“It was reported that the car involved failed to stop at the scene.

“Initial reports indicated the pedestrian – a woman aged in her 20s – had sustained minor injuries. It was subsequently reported that she had suffered cracked ribs.

“Enquiries into the incident are ongoing. No arrests have been made at this stage.”