People living near the A34 crash site where one man lost his life and two others were seriously injured on Wednesday are calling for changes to be made to the road.

Residents in Water Eaton Lane, Gosford, near Kidlington, who live just yards away from the A34, say they would welcome improvements to the road.

Catherine Higgs, 88, who has lived in the road for more than 60 years, said it is time something was done.

She said: "It is a dangerous road and I think something should be done to make it safer. If it was made into a motorway, maybe that would be better. Sometimes the amount of congested traffic on that road is dreadful."

Neighbour Neil Baker said: "Improvements to the road should be made, although I'm not entirely sure what form they should take. A motorway could be a good idea, but accidents do still happen."

Motoring organisation the AA has repeatedly called for the A34 to be brought up to motorway standards.

It said that because the A34 is a dual carriageway with no hard shoulder and no obvious alternative route for traffic, it makes chaos inevitable when major accidents happen.

On Wednesday evening, five articulated HGVs were involved in a collision just north of the Pear Tree Interchange and the road was closed in both directions. Although the southbound carriageway was reopened about four hours later, the northbound carriageway was closed until 6am yesterday.

Thousands of commuters were caught in tailbacks on the A34 as well as surrounding roads.

The two men who were seriously injured in the incident remain at the John Radcliffe Hospital where they are in a stable condition. The dead driver has not yet been named by police.

It is the second time in six months that a serious accident has occurred on this stretch of road.