A concerned resident says this photograph is proof that a scheme to slow down traffic in Bampton is actually putting lives at risk.

Bill Govier rushed out of his house in Manor View after hearing a crash and saw that the driver of the car pictured had collided with another vehicle.

He says the accident, last Thursday, was caused by chicanes fitted by Oxfordshire County Council last year to slow traffic entering the village.

Mr Govier, who has campaigned against the traffic-calming measure since plans were first drawn up, took the photograph as evidence to back calls for their removal.

Four of the triangular chicanes were fitted on either side of the road at entrances to the village, creating a one-lane system in the middle of the road.

Mr Govier says that, because the scheme forces cars to use the centre of the road, there is no obvious right of way, which causes confusion and encourages drivers to speed up through the chicane.

He said: "When will the people responsible for planning and building the monstrosity swallow their pride and admit they made a complete pig's ear of the whole thing?

"The female driver smashed into the back of another car coming into Bampton in the direction from Witney, whose driver had obviously braked suddenly after reaching the chicane and not knowing if he had to give way.

"My home is just a few yards away from this death trap in Station Lane and not a day passes without having to listen to the screech of brakes, horns blaring and torrents of foul language.

"Hardly a week goes by without having to pick up broken glass, wing mirrors and hubs caps where people have hit the chicanes.

"All I want it for them to be removed - or else someone will be killed."

County council cabinet member for transport David Robertson said concerns had been raised by several residents.

The council could not take the chicanes out as a "knee-jerk" reaction to the crash, but he promised that action would be taken if necessary.

He said: "We can't just remove these chicanes. If we did that, we'd be back to square one with speeding problems.

"We have had people tell us that drivers are speeding up and we are monitoring this to see if that is the case.

"We need to get hard evidence and will report back to the parish council with our findings and then work towards making improvements if needed."