18-year-old Jade Smith died following a road traffic collision on the A40 on Monday, March 19th. At the inquest held into her death at Hereford Town Hall on Monday, December 3rd, Coroner Mark Bricknell recorded that the medical cause of death was multiple head injuries as the consequence of a road traffic collision caused by slush on the road.

Witnesses who gave evidence to the coroner included the driver of the other vehicle involved, Timothy Price, and one of the police officers who worked on the case, Timothy Viner.

The inquest found that Jade was driving a Vauxhall Corsa on the A40 at Hildersley, towards Ross-on-Wye, when she lost control as her nearside wheels began slipping, probably skidding on the slush that had formed on the driving surface due to water that had run off from a blocked field culvert. She was approaching a right hand bend and turned her car away from the slush to avoid colliding with the verge. When her tyres re-gained traction she veered into the opposite side of the road and into the path of Mr Price, who was driving a Vauxhall Vivaro. Miss Smith’s vehicle was turned anti-clockwise and eventually came to a stop on the verge.

Mr Bricknell read out a statement that was written by Neil Edmonds, one of the paramedics who attended the scene. He said that the journey to Jade was quick, and upon arrival he saw a lady performing chest compressions on Miss Smith who was still inside the Corsa, it was later discovered that she was a nurse on her way to work.

Advanced life support was administered to Miss Smith before she was airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

Miss Smith’s parents were able to spend some time with her before she died at 1.04pm.

Forensic investigator, PC Viner, judged that both drivers were below the speed limit. He explained that the design of the seatbelt meant it did not protect Miss Smith when she was forced in a sideways direction. She collided with the B pillar in her car and also the passenger door. PC Viner believes that if Miss Smith had suffered a head on collision, it is likely that she would have survived.

PC Viner found no faults with either vehicle that could have contributed to the incident, and added that there was nothing else that Mr Price could have done to have avoided the collision.

A statement from Balfour Beatty confirmed that the road had been gritted that morning in accordance with the weather conditions, and that they had not received any previous reports of water run off on that stretch of road, which is believed to have contributed to the slush Miss Smith initially came across.