Boy, 11, killed cycling home ‘after veering into path of bus when driver beeped’
An 11-year-old boy died after swerving into the path of a bus ‘when the driver beeped and startled him’, an inquest was told.
Lucas Ashton was ‘seen jumping at the sound of the horn’ as the bus driver tried to overtake him.
He was cycling home from his granddad’s house in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on December 30, 2022, when the collision occured.
The driver was said to have screamed ‘what the f**k have I done?’ after the horror collision, which caused the youngster traumatic head injuries.
A passenger on the bus, Victoria Lester, said she remembered the boy ‘jumping at the sound of the horn’ and said Lucas ‘seemed to be losing control’.
David Spencer, another passenger on the Bolton bus, said he was ‘happy with the driver’s skills’ and ‘felt safe’.
In an inquest held at Bolton Coroner’s Court on Wednesday this week, Emma Schofield said she knew nothing could be done to save Lucas when arrived at the scene.
The court also saw CCTV of the crash from the bus and a nearby care home.
A forensic collision reconstruction officer, PC Martin Davies, told the court he could not establish why Lucas veered into the path of the bus.
Asked whether the crash was preventable, he said: ‘In this particular case, I was able to establish that if the bike carried on in a straight line it wouldn’t have happened.
‘In regards to why or how Lucas turned the bike, I wasn’t able to establish why.
‘There’s no evidence to support that it was a loss of control.
‘There was no reaction from Lucas and no indication that Lucas had heard the horn before it happened.’
Cyclists and road traffic collisions
87 cyclists were killed on British roads between July 2023 and June 2024, Government data shows.
However cyclist road casualities, rather than deaths, reaches into their tens of thousands.
A total of 14,345 cyclist casualties were reported in the same time period.
This number is also 33 per cent lower than the same period a decade ago, however cycle traffic in the UK is also down.
Eight cyclists were killed in London in 2023, while 49 pedestrians died on the capital’s roads that year.
He added the bus was driving between 20 and 24mph on Vernon Street, where the speed limit is 20 mph.
Coroner Peter Sigee ruled Lucas’ death to be a result of a traumatic head injury suffered in a road traffic collision.
He told the court the bus driver had been ‘overtaking in a manner within the highway code’.
The coroner said: ‘Lucas suddenly, and without warning, veered to the right so that a collision occurred.
‘Lucas was unseated from his bicycle and he suffered an unsurvivable injury.
‘Before I close this inquest, may I reiterate my condolences to everyone involved.’
Lucas’ devastated Sarah Heaton paid tribute to her son as ‘a very adventurous young man from the very start’.
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