A FATHER has told of his horror at seeing his son thrown more than 10ft after being hit by a car – two months after he called for a 20mph speed limit in the road.
Barry Tutt said he thought his son Leon had been killed in the accident in the street where they live, Purslane Drive, in Bicester.
The schoolboy was running across the road after hearing an ice cream van at about 6.30pm on Friday when he was hit, breaking his leg.
Doctors at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford said it could be nine months before he walks properly again.
Mr Tutt, 45, a construction site manager, saw the crash from his kitchen window and said he feared the worst.
Now Mr Tutt, backed by about 20 other families on the Bure Park estate, has again called on Oxfordshire County Council to improve road safety.
He said: “All I could see was this horrified look on his face as he impacted with the bonnet of the car, and him being thrown forwards away from the car into the open road.
“He had his hands up to protect himself. I could hear his leg snap.
“He must have travelled about 10 or 15ft.
“We went rushing out expected the worst. You could hear him screaming.”
Mr Tutt added: “The worst scenario is always playing in your mind.”
His wife Katherine, 34, a dental nurse, said: “We hope the council show some consideration and make some changes.”
Mr Tutt sent a letter to the county council in July with a list of concerns and suggestions to slow down traffic, including a 20mph limit, chicanes and speed bumps, along with barriers at a park entrance and cutting back hedges to improve visibility.
He said: “Improvements are desperately needed. They are needed yesterday. We always thought ‘why wait until a child is hurt until something is done’. I was writing those words in my letter to the council in July.
“That now leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”.
County council spokesman Owen Morton said because of spending constraints, requests for road safety measures had to be targeted where they were most needed.
Although Purslane Drive was not currently a priority, he said the council would continue to monitor the situation.
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