A teenager was killed by a car when she ran across the road.

Mya Lawrence, 13, had dashed over the carriageway with friends and the driver could not stop for her in time, an inquest heard.

Today a coroner recorded a conclusion that the tragedy in Whitfield was a road traffic collision.

The driver was not found to be at fault in any way, police said in evidence during the hearing at County Hall in Maidstone.

Mya had been struck on the A256 Whitfield Hill, close to the Whitfield roundabout, at about 7.40pm on Friday, October 15, last year.

The inquest heard that she and a group of friends were heading home to the nearby Old Park estate after visiting McDonald's at Whitfield.

They had decided to take a short cut by crossing Whitfield Hill and after that could get through a hole in a fence to get straight to their houses.

The children split into two groups to get across with Mya one of three in the second group.

The inquest was told it was believed some of the youngsters had challenged the others to get across first but Det Con Claire Fullager told the hearing there was no evidence Mya had heard that.

Katrina Hepburn, area coroner for Central and South East Kent, heard that Mya would have been harder to see by the driver as it was a dark evening and she had been wearing dark clothes. Also not all the street lights were working,

Mya was pronounced dead at the scene and a post mortem examination later confirmed head injury as the cause of death.

The driver, in a blue Vauxhall Astra, had been heading with a friend to Capel-le-Ferne.

At the time of the collision he had just left the roundabout and was driving downhill towards Temple Ewell.

Daniel Browning was never charged with any offence. It was found he had no alcohol or drugs in his system and police checks on his mobile phone showed it had not been used at the time.

Police crash investigators found that he had been driving below the 50mph speed limit, with his travel at the time of the accident estimated to be between 36mph and 45mph.

The car had no mechanical defects that may have contributed to the accident and the weather was not a factor either - the road surface was dry.

Investigating officer PC Simon Masterson told the inquest in written evidence: "Mr Browning would not have been able to stop the car in time to avoid Mya. The collision was unavoidable."

Ms Hepburn said after hearing all the evidence: "This is a tragic case involving the death of a young lady aged 13.

"She suffered significant head injuries and did not recover despite medical intervention a the scene."

WATCH: Mya's mum pays tribute to her daughter following her inquest

After the inquest Mya's mother Dawn Hopkins called for safer crossings in the area such as a footbridge.

There is an underpass at the roundabout but it only goes between Honeywood Road and Archers Court Road.

She said: "It's really vital. They need to do something. It's not safe.

"As for the lighting it's not that good anyway. They need some sort of crossing so it's easier to get to McDonald's or towards that way.

"It needs to be something for the elderly as well so they don't have to use the underpass."