PROTESTORS dressed as a popular video game character called for improved road safety, labelling a footpath as an accident waiting to happen.
Dressed as the Pokemon character Pikachu, organisers demanded a 20mph speed limit be introduced to the A44 going through Woodstock.
Gathered outside Woodstock Town Hall, half a dozen people in costumes of the mouse-like creature called for change.
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Ed King, who organised the event, said: “It’s been a bit of a difficult year for everyone, and we wanted to do something to cheer people up, while also underlining that we need to make the town a safer place.
“It might sound melodramatic, but an accident is a slip away.
“It’s about changing the thinking, and we’ve appreciated having cleaner air in the last two years.
“We want to enforce to everyone standing for election how important it is to have safer streets and cleaner air.”
Colin Carritt, a campaigner for safer routes for pedestrians and cyclists, and former traffic engineer at Oxfordshire County Council, said the proximity of HGVs to the pavement is a ‘hair-raising experience’ for parents.
“The A44 carries 12,000 vehicles a day, and if you’re holding a child’s hand and pushing a buggy on a footpath which is only two or three feet wide, then that’s a frightening experience,” he said.
“HGVs go thundering down the road with the wing mirrors so close to the footpath, it’s a bit of a hair-raising experience.
“There’s an important message here because it involves the route for schools.”
Jane Ma, a resident and parent, added: “We walk to school each day along the A44 and you feel like you’re putting your life in your hands.
“An accident can happen in a second. The A44 is an important road for transport, we know that, but it’s an accident waiting to happen if nothing is done about it.”
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Andy Graham, county councillor for the Woodstock division, said the council’s Woodstock Traffic Advisory Committee would be looking at the matter.
He said: “It’s great that the kids are leading the way on this, they show the adults how things should be done and we see that with the environment too.
“The county will be looking at this and going from 30 to 20mph will change behaviours, and that can save a child’s life.
“We should be encouraging kids to walk to school, knowing they’ve got a safe route.”
Local election candidate Veronica Oakeshott was at the protest and said: “I’ve done the A44 walk for going to school and I wouldn’t want to do that every morning.
“Lorries come by so close, and you don’t have an inch to spare.”
The county council has been contacted for comment.
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