Woman was hit 10 times after running into road following accident

Rhiannon Priestley, 20, was driving her black Volkswagen Polo westbound along the M4 near Bristol after spending the evening of October 13 last year with friends when she lost control near junction 19 and veered across two lanes before crashing down a verge.

Her car hit a tree “with considerable force” before flipping over – leaving her with head injuries.

Avon Coroner’s Court heard yesterday that she pulled herself from the wreckage and walked up the verge half an hour later.

It is believed she then tried to get help from other drivers but became disorientated and ran onto the motorway where she was struck by two oncoming vehicles, knocking her into the slip road.

Unable to see her in the darkness as she lay on the ground, the inquest heard up to eight other vehicles then ran over her, although it is not known which collision was fatal.

Miguel Andrews, the second driver to hit Miss Priestley, said: “All of a sudden I saw somebody ran towards the car. It was so fast I didn’t have time to react.

“It just looked as if they were running in panic. It was so quick I couldn’t process what was happening before the impact. I think they were running with their arms up.”

Mr Andrews immediately pulled over and saw the front of his van was “all smashed”. “I didn’t know what had happened,” he said.

Phone records show Miss Priestley had a brief phone conversation with her boyfriend – with whom she had argued that evening – at 12.08am.

Pc David Watson, a collision investigator at Avon and Somerset Police, said CCTV images showed she careered across the inside lane to the outside lane at 12.12am “for some unknown reason”.

Blood on the car’s airbag suggests she suffered head or facial injuries in the smash but managed to escape the wreckage around half an hour later.

Avon Coroner Maria Voisin said a post-mortem examination showed Miss Priestley died from multiple injuries. Tests found she had “recent exposure” to cocaine, though it was not possible to establish how much. There were no traces of alcohol.

The coroner said: “Rhiannon Priestley was involved in a road traffic collision and died at 01.18 hours on the 14 of October at junction 19 of the M4. My conclusion will be recorded as a road traffic collision.”