A 'DEATH trap’ roundabout needs to get traffic lights after another fatal crash there, a councillor has said.

A man in his sixties was travelling northbound into Bicester on the A41 from junction 9 of the M40 on Thursday when he crashed into Vendee Drive roundabout and died at the scene.

A passenger in his car – a man in his fifties – suffered serious injuries and was left in a critical condition in hospital.

This is the fourth fatal crash in three years in the area, with the last happening in June 2019 when Bicester couple Kenneth Jarvis, 77, and Gillian Jarvis, 80, both died.

In August 2018, 29-year-old Thomas Nelson from Cholsey near Wallingford, died in a crash on the A41 when his BMW careered off the busy dual carriageway and smashed into a tree.

County councillor Ian Corkin, whose Ploughley division includes Vendee Drive roundabout, is calling for traffic lights to be installed at the roundabout and for an immediate safety audit of that stretch of the A41.

He said: “My inbox is full of complaints from residents saying how dangerous they find the roundabout and I wholeheartedly agree with them.

“The design is clearly dangerous and getting onto it from both Vendee Drive and Charles Shouler Way is difficult because of the speed of traffic from the A41.

“With so much development at this important gateway site, the problem is only going to get worse and I am calling on Oxfordshire County Council to urgently review the funding to signalise the junction and accelerate the safety audit of the A41 as it runs from junction 9 of the M40, through Oxfordshire to the Buckinghamshire border.”

The call comes as new speed restrictions are implemented this week on the northbound approach to the roundabout, following the double fatality last year.

The 40mph speed limit on the roundabout approach is now extended by 240 metres and a 50mph speed limit has been introduced for 670 metres in advance of that.

Mr Corkin added: “The situation of the Wendlebury bus stops remains unresolved and now a third fatality on the roundabout in 13 months. As I predicted two years ago, the bodies are piling up and the time for action is now.”

In response to the crash, Bicester residents who use the roundabout took to Facebook to express their frustration of a lack of safety measures.

Nicola Holloway said: “How many lives need to be lost before there is something done to reduce the speed limit, or better still put in some kind of traffic slowing measure.

“That roundabout has been a death trap since the day it was opened, you take your lives in your hands each time negotiating it - especially from the Vendee Drive entrance.”

Co-chair of Bicester Traffic Action Group (BTAG), Jan Harvey, has been campaigning and writing to the county council seeking improvements to the junction.

Co-chair of Bicester Traffic Action Group Jan Harvey has been campaigning and writing to the county council seeking improvements to the junction.

She said: “Excess speed on this stretch of road up to the roundabout has been a problem for years.

“OCC must stop hiding behind rules and regulations as they have done since the first fatal accident and take positive and effective steps to reduce traffic speed.”