Killer road claims another victim (From Witney Gazette)

Killer road claims another victim

9:00am Wednesday 8th November 2006 in Witney By Rosalind Miles

A NOTORIOUS accident blackspot near Ducklington has claimed the life of a 21-year-old man, prompting calls for more safety improvements.

James Franklin, 21, from Monmouth Road, Oxford, was killed after his Renault Clio was involved in a crash with a Ford Transit van at 8.30am on Saturday on the A415, close to Cokethorpe School. He died in the John Radcliffe Hospital. Two people in the van suffered minor injuries. It was the fifth death on the stretch of the road in less than three years.

The latest fatality comes after the news that a £50m improvement plan to improve the A415 Abingdon-to-Witney route is set to be dropped by Oxfordshire County Council.

Brenda Smith, a district councillor for Standlake, said: "Something should be done. It's a very narrow and twisty road with poor visibility, and people come along it very fast. There's a lot of traffic coming in and out of Cokethorpe School, it all adds up.

"What they have done, putting traffic lights in at Hardwick, has been partly effective, but it's not enough.

"The road needs to be straightened out, or there needs to be some method of slowing the traffic down, perhaps lights along that stretch to improve visibility.

"More and more heavy vehicles are going to be using that path because of the weight restriction at Newbridge, it's going to make it worse. The road is not really up to it.

"The county council obviously had an idea of how it should be improved, but they have decided not to bother.

"In our village, a boy riding a motorcycle was killed on that road, another motorcyclist was in hospital for months and another boy is in a wheelchair. The county council must be asked to reconsider. Cost should not be their only criteria."

Barry Norton, leader of the district council, said: "It's clearly becoming an accident blackspot, the worst in West Oxfordshire. I would like to see an investigation into the causes of the accidents.

"I have been using that road for 50 years and it's a mystery to me why there are so many fatal crashes. If there was a thorough investigation, the county council might find there is something they can do that is affordable."

Head of transport for the county council, Steve Howell, said: "Our chances of getting any money from the Government to upgrade the A415 route are pretty much non-existent. The Government's new criteria for judging bids says road schemes supporting housing growth get the highest priority.

"The county council is acutely aware that the A415 needs attention in certain locations and we will continue to carry out specific improvements and in particular in relation to casualty reduction.

"It may be that funding opportunities become available for larger-scale proposals if the plan for a reservoir at Steventon is given the go-ahead."

David Robertson, the county council cabinet member for transport, said measures had been taken to improve safety on the A415.

He said: "Last year, a 50mph speed limit was introduced along the length of the route.

"There are go slow signs in a number of locations.

"Engineering-wise, you can only do so much. It's the way some drivers drive."

In October 2004, five-year-old Sonia Dines Figuiers Rodrigues and 22-year-old Jose Avelino Dinis Figuiera died on the road after the car they were travelling in collided with a VW Polo head-on.

The driver, Carlos Rodrigues, 31, was convicted of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

A motorcyclist died in December 2003 on the A415 Ducklington junction.

And in October of the same year, a woman motorcyclist died in a collision with a car near Standlake.