Victim's sister fights for A415 safety (From Witney Gazette)

Victim's sister fights for A415 safety

10:53am Saturday 6th January 2007 in Witney By Nione Meakin

A WITNEY woman has decided to take matters into her own hands over improving safety at an accident blackspot.

Paula Franklin's brother, James, 21, was killed in November, following a collision on the A415, outside Cokethorpe School, near Ducklington.

He was the fifth person to die on the road in three years, and one of 68 killed in Oxfordshire last year, but the Government has refused to fund the county council's scheme to make safety improvements.

Now Ms Franklin, 28, of Highworth Close, Witney, has decided to raise money herself, to make the road safer.

She plans to do a sponsored parachute jump to raise money for safety improvements, and is looking for a suitable charity to which she can donate the proceeds.

Mother-of-one Ms Franklin, who lives with her partner, Roy, said they did not want other families to suffer as theirs was.

She added: "With three accidents on the A415 in the last few months, it's pretty bad.

"Fair enough, people say it's not the road, it's the drivers, but we need to meet halfway.

"I'd like to see some speed cameras there, or some other road improvements.

"That road can catch you out, and we don't want other people to have to suffer like we are."

Days after Mr Franklin's death, a woman was rescued from the wreckage of her overturned car, when it collided with another car on the A415 at Cokethorpe School.

Firefighters spent an hour supporting the body of the severely injured woman, as she was cut free from her car.

Then, on December 21, Paolo dos Santos, 39, from Banbury, was killed along the same stretch, when the van he was driving and a double-decker bus were in collision.

Last year, a 50mph speed limit was imposed on the road, and Cokethorpe School contributed to vehicle-activated signs to slow people down near the school.

West Oxfordshire district councillor Brenda Smith, whose ward includes the area around Cokethorpe School, said the county council needed to make permanently improving the road a priority.

She said: "I feel at the moment they're offering sticking plasters for something that's a serious compound fracture."