VILLAGE leaders will demand that the Government extends a 50mph limit on the A34 following a spate of horror crashes.

Parish councillors in South Hinksey have joined a growing band of campaigners who want to see a slower speed limit on the main trunk road to avoid more fatal crashes.

They are set to write to the Transport Secretary urging politicians to stretch the 50mph limit at Botley to the Hinksey Hill interchange on both sides of the carriageway.

Councillor Maggie Rawcliffe said: "The A34 has a solid band of traffic queuing back along the slip road at Hinksey Hill.

"At the moment people are starting to speed up by Oxford Rugby Club - the 50mph limit near Botley doesn't come past South Hinksey. People bomb down and suddenly there's a slip road. It's a tight bend and you can't see that there's an interchange where the traffic is queuing."

So far this year six people have died on the A34, including three-year-old Isla Wiggin from Hampshire who died in an eight-vehicle pile-up on August 25 at Hinksey Hill.

The tragedy struck after another eight-vehicle crash on August 10 near East Illsley, which killed a mother and three children.

A petition set up by the girlfriend of Gavin Roberts, who died on June 15 after crashing on the A34 near Compton, calls for a 50mph limit along the entire road and has accumulated almost 2,350 signatures.

The road is managed by Highways England, which has said it has launched new studies into safety issues on the road.