Pupil killed leaving school bus

Trauma counsellors will be on hand at a Waikato school tomorrow to help students after the death of a 12-year-old pupil in a road accident on Friday.

Jordan Robert Eastgate, from Matamata Intermediate School, died instantly when he was struck by a car after getting of a school bus about 3.45pm.

He was crossing a 100km/h stretch of Tower Rd, 8km outside the town, to reach his home.

Jordan's school principal Marion Henriksen said a trauma team would be at the school tomorrow to help upset students.

"Something like that is a real shock and it doesn't necessarily sink in straight away, but they all seem to be coping okay," she said.

Waikato Road Policing Manager, Inspector Leo Tooman, said it was crucial that people observed the speed restriction of 20km/h when passing stationary school buses.

"Thousands of children take the school bus everyday and it is one of the safest forms of transport around but the stakes are too high and it just takes a second for disaster to strike."

At 20km/h drivers had that much more time to react and that reduces the forces of any impact considerably, he said.

"At the same time if you're travelling with your lights on it makes your vehicle that much more visible to children."

The car driver had stopped and been spoken to.

Jordan's death has been referred to the coroner and his funeral will be held in Matamata on Wednesday.

- NZPA