An inquest into the death of a 16-year-old from Sutton Bridge heard she died from a head injury after the vehicle she was a passenger in hit a pot hole while travelling at 90mph.
Eden Bunn was one of five teenagers in a Volkswagen Polo which entered the River Nene at North Brink near Wisbeach at around 8.20pm on Tuesday, March 17.
The driver of the vehicle, Declan Berry, also died as a result of the incident.
On Tuesday an inquest at Huntingdon Coroner’s Court into Eden’s death heard witness statements from the unnamed teenagers who survived the incident, two 16-year-old girls and one 18-year-old boy.
The boy was the front seat passenger and told Declan to ‘slow down’, the hearing was told, to which the driver had responded ‘we’ll be fine’.
His evidence said that the speedometer of the vehicle was showing ‘approximately 90mph’ and that Declan hadn’t appeared to break rounding a right bend.
The evidence continued that the car ‘struck an object’ before starting to spin.
In their witness statement, another of those in the car said Eden was sitting in the middle of the rear seats and was the only one not wearing a seatbelt ‘due to it being small and crowded’ in the back.
The inquest heard from Thomas Bilverstone who lives nearby and witnessed the headlights ‘rotating’, describing the vehicles as ‘rolling through the air’.
He ‘heard multiple people screaming’ and went over to help the three who survived, including one described as ‘hanging on to vegetation’.
Eden’s body was found in the water but there was no water in her lungs, a post-mortem found.
Declan’s body was discovered at Wisbech Marina two weeks after the crash.
The inquest was told the river was particularly fast flowing at the time.
An inspection of the vehicle found a historic steering defect in a ‘dangerous condition’ and it had a modified suspension, though it was too damaged to tell if that had an impact.
Coroner Elizabeth Gray though ruled that out as a contributing factor in Eden’s death.
The inquest heard from various sources that there were numerous raised edges, pot holes and surface defects on the road and that Cambridgeshire County Council had received 127 reports of issues with it.
Ms Gray said the road condition was a contributing factor, but the primary cause was ‘completely inappropriate’ speed of the vehicle for a ‘rural Fenland road’ where cars approaching each other had to pull over to let each other pass.
“Eden’s death resulted from a road traffic collision when the vehicle she was travelling in struck a road surface defect while being driven at an excessive speed.
“The most significant factor is the 90mph speed shortly before the collision, whch is considerably above the 60mph speed limit.
“A speed reduction would have decreased the time it takes to react to hazards.”
Addressing members of Eden’s family who were in attendance at the hearing, Ms Gray continued: “My sincere condolences for the loss of Eden.
“I can really gather how loved she is from the absolute distress on your faces listening to the evidence and you are prepared to remember Eden in death as you loved her in your lives.”
In a tribute released at the time of her death, Eden’s parents, Lisa and Dean, her brother Jay, sister Shelby and nephew Axl, said: “Eden was the kindest, most loving girl we could ever wish for.
“Her horses – Daisy and Dolly – were her world, and she was ours. Words cannot describe the tragedy that will stay with us until we are able to meet her again.”
