Toddler Madi Collingwood-Prince suffered horrific head injuries after a car driven by an elderly woman mounted the pavement and crushed her in her buggy.

Now her mother Amanda is calling for drivers over 70 to re-sit the driving test or surrender their licence.

Two-year-old Madi Collingwood-Prince liked to assert her independence. Rather than sit in her buggy, she often preferred to walk.

But because she was sleepy after waking from a nap, mum Amanda made her sit in the pushchair.

It was a decision that probably saved her life.

Amanda and Madi were on their way to collect Madi's older sister Paige, nine, from school. As they walked along The Street near their home in Rustington, Amanda heard a revving car engine behind her.

As she turned to see where the noise was coming from, a car careered towards them.

Amanda said: "It was heading right for us. I had to make a split-second decision so I pushed the buggy into a doorway and tried to jump in front of the car to stop it."

The car ploughed straight into them, crushing Madi in her pushchair and bringing the windows of a solicitor's office crashing down around them.

Amanda, 31, said: "It was as though it happened in slow motion. I looked down at the buggy and it had been concertinaed. Then I saw Madi. She had these horrific injuries.

"She literally had a hole a bit bigger than a ping-pong ball in her head and I could see her brain. She was conscious but moaning."

Madi was taken to Worthing Hospital where she was given a CT scan, which revealed she had a shattered skull and a blood clot on the brain.

Doctors put her on a life support machine before transferring her to Kings College Hospital in London to see specialist neurosurgeons.

Amanda said: "I thought she was going to die because I couldn't see how anyone could survive injuries like that.

"I asked one of the paramedics 'Is she going to die?' He said he simply didn't know."

The next 48 hours were crucial. Madi underwent a five-hour operation. Grit and glass were removed from her brain and part of her frontal lobe was cut out. The blood clot was removed and plates were inserted to hold her skull together.

Amanda said: "They literally rebuilt her head."

While she endured the agonising wait for news, doctors tried to prepare her for the worst.

Amanda said: "They said she probably wouldn't be the same little girl. They were trying to tell me as gently as they could that even if she survived, she could have brain damage."

"I couldn't think about brain damage. I just thought 'I want my daughter back. I want her alive'."

After two long days of waiting and praying, Madi finally opened her eyes.

Amanda said: "She held up her arms and said 'Mummy'. I knew then that she was going to make it."

Madi's eyes were so badly swollen she could hardly see. She was clearly in pain and dreaded being examined.

Amanda said: "She would see the doctor coming and say, 'Mummy - no more hurt'.

"She had so many stitches she looked like Frankenstein's bride."

Making a startlingly-quick recovery, Madi left hospital after only two weeks. She is taking painkillers and anti-fit medication and has deep, angry scars across her head. One eye is also slightly smaller than the other.

Amanda said: "We don't know what the long-term effects will be. I have had to re-teach her things like her colours and numbers.

"She has absences where she sits and stares into space but that could just be her thinking.

"She is restless and not sleeping well - she was up and ready to play at 2.30 this morning - and she may have post-traumatic stress disorder."

Although most of her scars are under or close to her hairline, Madi will need cosmetic surgery.

Amanda said: "It will be ten years before we know the full effects. People say kids bounce back but it is not until you witness something like this that you see how resilient they are."

Luckily Madi remembers nothing of the accident.

Amanda said: "She just thinks she hit her head in the swimming pool. She thinks she had a 'little trip and a nee-naw', a sleep."

The 81-year-old woman who was behind the wheel of the car was treated for shock but was unhurt.

Last week, an 80-year-old woman driver crashed her car into an 11,000-volt generator plant at Worthing Hospital after she hit the accelerator instead of the brake on her automatic car.

Amanda, who is about to start training as a nurse, said: "Now I've calmed down I am not angry at the woman. Madi could have died and she will have this on her conscience for the rest of her life."

Madi's accident happened on the same day the DVLA launched a new safety advertising campaign, which featured a crushed pushchair.

The resemblance to Madi's accident is uncanny.

Amanda said: "I don't have a personal vendetta against old people but I do think many of them are no longer safe drivers.

"Some decide not to drive any more because they don't feel safe but others carry on even though they can't see properly or their reactions are slow.

"They should be made to re-sit a driving test and I have written to Tony Blair to say so. I'm just one small voice but I feel I have to make myself heard."

At present, British drivers have to pass only one driving test to motor for life.

Amanda said: "The sad thing is this will happen again. Does a child have to be killed before something is done to change the law?"

Madi is making good progress and appears to be unperturbed by her near-death experience.

Amanda said: "She has been so brave and I'm so grateful to the people who saved her. She really is an amazing little girl.

"One of the nursing staff said to me 'When we see Madi our hearts just beat a little faster'. That really touched me.

"An experience like this changes the way you value life and made me realise how much I want to help others."