By Jane Haynes

Copyright birminghammail

The brave mother of a four-year-old Birmingham girl killed when a motorist ploughed his car into them as they walked on a pavement, yards from home, has spoken for the first time of the haunting moment of impact. Little Mayar Yahia was killed instantly in the horrific crash in Highgate, Birmingham , last April. She was among a happy group, including her mother Sara, older brother Omer and sister Mishkat, a neighbour and her children, walking home after an Eid celebration. Out of nowhere, a car mounted the pavement at speed, giving them no chance of escape, ploughing into the railings beyond them. “The lights were so bright coming at us and so close, there was nowhere to run,” recalls a still traumatised Sara. “We just heard the loud noise and the car skid then bright lights. To lose Mayar, so fast, it is so hard.” READ MORE: Deadly drivers need to lose their licences. Full stop. READ NEXT: Why every motorist in Birmingham must watch heartbreaking City of Cars film The driver that night was Javonnie Tavener, 23, who was in a Vauxhall Corsa he was not insured to drive. He drove round the sweeping bend of Upper Highgate Street by its junction with Conybere Street, hit another car in an overtaking move before careering up the pavement, into the families. He has since admitted causing Mayar’s death by careless driving, and leaving her mother and a neighbour seriously injured, and causing death by driving while uninsured. He is due to be sentenced next month, with Mayar’s family hopeful of justice but braced for leniency. Sara and husband Babiker are speaking out about their experience to help campaign for better road safety measures in the city, and to put pressure on lawmakers and judges to dramatically increase sentences for serious motoring offences. They are also backing BirminghamLive’s campaign for lifetime bans for drivers like Tavener whose actions cause the deaths of innocent road-users. Sara recalls that Sunday as a joyful day, with family and friends celebrating Eid together. That evening she had gone to visit a family friend nearby with her older children, Mishkat, Omer and Mayar, while Babiker stayed home with their then four month old baby son Mohamed. It was a happy gathering. “We had some cookies and sweets for the children, the mums had tea and coffee and were chatting, the kids were playing. “The children had school the next day so we left to walk home, with my neighbour and her children and my children. It was about 9pm, ten past 9.” What happened next was “shocking. It just happened so quick, very quick.” She said the group were on the other side of the road to the play park when they became aware of a car, travelling quickly. “There was a loud noise, and then the lights were shining at us, we couldn’t see, we know one car had come from the side road and the other was coming fast…there was nowhere to run.” Sitting in their seventh floor flat, no more than 200 yards away, Babiker received a frantic phone call from Mishkat moments later. he recalls hearing her down the phone, imploring him to ‘come quickly, Mayar has passed, Mayar has passed.’ He raced to the scene to see his wife and daughter among those lying on the floor, close to a car on the pavement. “It was a very shocking incident, the hardest time I have ever been through. “Some were screaming and were pointing to Mayar. She was lying down on the floor. “The paramedics arrived quickly after three or four minutes, and said they should take her into the ambulance…after about ten minutes he (the paramedic) came out and said your daughter has passed away. “I said I knew, I knew she was gone when I saw her, she was just not moving, she was completely gone.” Sara remained in hospital for some days after the incident, while Babiker arranged their daughter’s funeral, with Mayar’s loved ones joined by representatives from the Sudanese community at her burial. A startling short film on road safety, by documentary maker Sarah Chaundler, called City of Cars, captures the heartbreaking moment her little coffin is laid to rest. Sara suffered crush injuries with a severely broken left leg which surgeons had to act quickly to save. She has undergone two operations and has pins in her leg, still suffers daily pain, can’t bend her knee and is undergoing intensive physiotherapy. It is the mental scars however that will be lifelong; the loss of Mayar irreversible. “She was a very, very special girl,” said Babiker. “She was an absolutely lovely girl, always smiling, speaking of her friends. She would say ‘when I grow up I am going to make you tea, I will look after you.’ “She was always looking after everyone in her classroom, even though she was just four years old.” “She was always smiling,” added Sara. Babiker says he draws comfort from signs of love from Mayar that fateful day. Mayar had come into the room he was working in, on his computer, and pressed him to come and play. “She insisted I needed to play with her today. She had never done that before, not like that, but she said it was important. After she passed away I could not help thinking she was telling me she was going now, she wanted to say bye-bye.” Her warm goodbye as she skipped out of the house to join the Eid gathering will also stay with him. The night passed in a whirl of grief. Babiker had to accompany his young daughter’s body to Birmingham Children’s Hospital to complete formalities before visiting his wife Sara, alone across at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital , in pain, trauma and grief. READ MORE: Driver admits causing death of four-year-old Mayar Yahia in horror crash “I was running around all the night time, first to the children’s hospital to be with Mayar and to do the paperwork, then at about 4am, 5am, to the QE. The night was a blur, unbelievable, it was very shocking.” In the aftermath of Mayar’s death, the family joined forces with campaigning group Better Streets for Birmingham to press for the road where it happened to be pedestrianised. The work is expected to be completed before the end of the year. Sara, studying for high level health and social care qualifications, and husband Babiker, an engineer, are determined Mayar’s legacy won’t be limited to the place she knew as home. They want her story to resonate with lawmakers and those who impose sentences on motorists. Babiker has even set up his own organisation, Urban Road Safety Alliance, to help promote key messages around driving and safety. The family want speed limits lowered, roads designed to slow cars down, more enforcement and tougher sentences. “Whatever the sentence for this man, it will never be enough,” they add. Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes, from West Midlands Police’s serious collision investigation unit, said: “Mayar was just four years old when her life was tragically taken away from her. “Pedestrians should be afforded and be reassured of protection when walking on the pavement and a split-second decision by Tavener to overtake where he did has led to this tragic chain of events. “I would urge all drivers to think about this incident and how those decisions can have such catastrophic consequences.” READ NEXT: Why every motorist in Birmingham must watch heartbreaking City of Cars film