A 12-YEAR-old Tavistock boy died when he ran out into the path of a car after playing a game of chase with his friends, an inquest heard this week.
Attempts were made to resuscitate Keith Sturge who suffered a fatal head injury but he died 15 minutes before arrival at Derriford Hospital.
Plymouth coroner Nigel Meadows recorded a verdict of accidental death on the youngster who collided with a Vauxhall Cavalier at the Whitham Road Junction on the Whitchurch Road on the evening of April 8.
Mr Meadows said video interviews with four young people who had been with Keith at the time said that they had been playing a game of chase and Keith came to the end of the pavement and simply ran out into the road.
Driver of the car, Andrew Calver-Trotter told the inquest that he had no time to react as he approached the junction because large hedges on his nearside screened the children from his vision.
He said the first he became aware of something was when he heard a thud and saw a movement against his windscreen.
He braked firmly and on getting out of the car saw a young boy lying in the middle of the junction. He said he was in shock and phoned for an ambulance.
Mr Calver-Trotter said he had spent the day at the Bedford Hotel where he worked as assistant manager.
He was heading toward Horrabridge on the Whitchurch Road which was a road he used regularly and knew well.
He said he had been travelling at a speed between 25 and 30mph, it was still daylight and the visibility was good.
A vehicle examination report concluded there were no faults on the car which could have contributed to the accident.
Exeter traffic officer Darren Philp said an investigation of the scene and the vehicle suggested that Keith had been running and Mr Carver-Trotter had been travelling below 31mph ? the legal limit was 30mph.
There was no evidence of emergency braking which was characteristic of a driver not having sufficient time to react.
?The physical nature of the road with large hedges and walling on the nearside obscures the view for traffic approaching the junction,? he said.
If a subject came into this road a vehicle, travelling at this speed, would need a distance of 26 metres to stop in time.
?It appears that the pedestrian crossed the road heedless of traffic,? said MPC Philp.
A doctor who was passing the scene stopped and rendered assistance before paramedics and ambulance arrived but Keith suffered a cardiac arrest before reaching the hospital. A pathologist gave the cause of death as head injury.
Mr Meadows expressed his sincere sympathies to the family: ?Losing a child in this way is every parent?s worst nightmare and it is every driver?s nightmare to be involved in an incident like this.?