Speed Plea At Accident Blackspot

22 June 2011, 05:00

After a spate of accidents on a Thames Valley road in the past few months, police have caught more than 120 people speeding along it in only a few hours.

Thames Valley Police held the speed checks over three days in June after 8 accidents in two months along the A41 roadworks in Bicester.

Two of those left people with life-changing injuries.

There have also been complaints from other motorists and people working on the housing development nearby that the speed limits are being ignored.

Many of the drivers were caught doing between 50 and 80 mph in the 40 mph zone. The fastest recorded speed was 84mph.

Officers say those caught have been given £60 Fixed Penalty Notices and three penalty points on their licence.

PC Mark Pilling says they could have stopped even more "We gave them quite a margin over the 40 mph hour limit before we started dealing with them due to the fact that there were so many offences being committed and we were restricted by the number of police officers we had to deal with them."

Motorists are now being asked to drive carefully on the stretch between the A34 and Bicester Town Centre, especially at the new roundabout.

Extra signs have been put up to warm motorists, but paramedic Alan Weir from South Central Ambulance Service has told Heart it's still taking people by surprise.

He said "The full street lighting is not available yet and for people not familiar with the area or those not expecting it to be there because they've driven it a hundred times, the roundabout remains an obstacle."

A crash at the end of May left two people paralysed while another at the beginning of June saw a driver taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital with head and back injuries after he drove into the roundabout.

New junctions and roads are being created to give access to a new housing estate in south west Bicester that should be finished by mid-July.

Oxfordshire County Council has been speaking to the contractors and Thames Valley Police to see how the road can be made safer.