Art student Emma Donnelly was hit by a car and killed when she ran across a road to take a toilet break while on a coach trip.

Emma, of King Street, Redland, was 20 when she died by Crosshands Farm on the A46 on Saturday, May 3 this year.

The Bristol University student was on her way home from working at the Badminton Horse Trials.

She was travelling in a private coach in slow moving traffic when two of her friends asked the bus driver to stop so they could all go to the toilet on the other side of the road.

One of the girls, Charean Campbell, presented the inquest into Emma's death a written statement.

"I spoke to Emma on the coach, she was a great girl, always positive and happy, we'd both had a couple of glasses of wine," she said.

"We got on the bus around 7.15pm, and I needed the toilet 30 minutes later, so Emma, myself and another girl asked the driver if we could get off.

"He said yes, but be quick. I saw a wall that could hide us."

The first two girls ran out into the 60mph road, with Emma following a few seconds behind them.

"I ran straight out, and on the second half of the road I noticed a red car 15m to 20m away out of the corner of my eye," said Miss Campbell.

"I was very surprised and shocked for the car to be so close.

"I know I had been stupid for running out, I tried to tell Emma a car was coming but as I turned I was horrified to see her follow me into the path of the car."

Emma was knocked into the air by the Toyota Yaris before hitting another vehicle and landing in the road.

"In my opinion Emma and I shouldn't have run into the road," said Miss Campbell.

"It is no excuse, it was a quiet country road and I didn't think anything would be about."

The car was being driven by Martin Chivers, of Tormarton, who told the inquest: "I was driving at about 50mph when I saw two girls run out about 20 or 30 yards ahead without looking."

"My partner and I were both shocked by this, so I began to slow up and as I did so a girl approached from nowhere and I hit her.

"I was doing about 45mph, I had no chance to avoid the collision."

Mr Chivers told the court he still thinks about the incident every day.

PC Mark Steadman, of Avon and Somerset's Collision Detection Unit, said Emma would have taken about half a second to run from the front of the coach to where the car hit her, but the driver's reaction time would have been between one and two seconds.

"The driver would have had insufficient time to react to an unexpected event," he said.

"The minimum speed at the time of impact would have been 34mph, but I can't calculate the maximum speed."

Emma's family attended the inquest and were represented by John Baden-Daintree.

They asked if the coach driver, Terrance Major, should have let the girls out of the coach before reaching a garage.

But deputy coroner Bryan Whitehouse said: "I appreciate the family's concerns about where Emma got off the coach but he cannot be held directly responsible in anyway for what happened subsequently.

"The tragic thing about this accident was that it could have so easily been avoided if only Emma had paused for a second to see if the road was clear.

"Mr Chivers should not blame himself for this tragic accident as he had no realistic chance of avoiding it."

Mr Whitehouse recorded a verdict of accidental death.

After the hearing, Emma's mother Geraldine paid loving tribute to her youngest of nine children.

Emma was born in Belfast but had moved to Bristol last year to begin her first year of a fine art degree.

Her hero was pop star Christina Aguilera, and before she died she had been planning on dying her dark hair blonde to look just like her.

Her mum said: "She was very talented, and very ambitious to do well.

"If she had a motto it would be "be kind to a stranger".

"In October last year, just after she had moved to Bristol, she saved an 18-year-old boy who had been stabbed.

"She and her boyfriend stayed with him and paramedics said that saved his life.

"She would always question any prejudice, she was very open hearted and loved making friends.

"Emma was just a very loving person.

"You don't want your child to be forgotten, you always want people to remember her.

More than 600 people attended Emma's funeral earlier this year, and since she passed away, a number of charity events have been held in her memory to raise money for the NSPCC.