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Case · United Kingdom

15-year-old looking at her phone killed by a school bus outside school

In January 2019, a 15-year-old girl in Coalville, Leicestershire, was looking down at her phone with earphones in when she was hit by a double-decker school bus. She died at the scene.

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Memorial Square, Coalville (2015, file photo)
Memorial Square, Coalville (2015, file photo) Photo: Mat Fascione / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
When
Jan. 28, 2019
Where
Outside a school in Coalville, Leicestershire, UK
Who
15-year-old girl
Outcome
Died

On Jan. 28, 2019, a 15-year-old girl was hit by a double-decker school bus outside her school in Coalville, Leicestershire, and died at the scene. At the inquest the following year, it was reported that she had been looking down at her phone with earphones in.

Girl killed by school bus 'was looking down at phone when she was hit'

— Metro headline (Feb. 12, 2020)

Her family later spoke out to warn others about looking at phones while walking.

What this case shows

The school gate is one of the most familiar places in a child's day — and at drop-off and pick-up, one of the busiest for buses and cars. With earphones in and eyes on a screen, a child can miss both the sound and the sight of a vehicle.

Original reports

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