Hi Peter,
Thank God no one was injured in this incident. I hope all recover quickly from the injuries and shock of the accident and please give my regards to your wife. Thank goodness for seatbelts.
This reminds me of a similar happening with us. My wife was PARKING

our 1993 Xantia where she always had done in a sururban side street, prior to walking into work. She had pulled in behind an AX and realised that she was too far out from the kerb. Somehow she managed to jump the car 6ft sideways, smashing the wing of the AX, careered down the footpath tipping a low garden wall and hitting a low gatepost pillar cap which opened up the front wing and driver's door like a tin opener. She then carried on to the second gatepost which the front tyre hit, smashing off the front lower suspension arm, driveshaft and part of the diff. Having gone that far there was more work to be done. The car bounced off the 2nd gatepost and hit the front of a parked 2yr old Mondeo. All this done trying to park (not many people can do this).
My wife was uninjured exept for her pride and the cause will remain a mystery. The car was a 1.8LX auto petrol. The only thing we can think of is as it was an auto she may have hit the loud pedal instead of the brake.
Kind regards and best wishes to your wife,
Chris
PS, my username on the old site was chrisr