A FORMER police commander is warning there could be another death at a Bicester road junction if safety improvements are not made soon.

Figures from Oxfordshire County Council show there have been 13 recorded accidents at the junction of Peregrine Road and Wretchwick Way, including one death, between 1997 and this year.

Retired police officer Richard Auger, chairman of Langford Village Residents Association, said: “That junction just isn’t up to safety standards.”

Wretchwick Way is a wide carriageway, but in the middle of the carriageway – between two roundabouts – there is a right-turn area with no protection for drivers heading into Peregrine Way.

According to campaigners some drivers travelling from the A41 overtake near the right-turn area, making the motorists waiting at the junction “sitting ducks” for a head-on collision.

Wretchwick Way has a 50mph speed limit, forms part of the Bicester ring road and runs alongside the Langford Village estate.

Dozens of residents attended a meeting recently on the issue and a ‘specific issue action group’ has been set up with police.

Campaigners want the right-turn box protected and road markings to prevent vehicles overtaking.

Carole Hetherington, leading the campaign for safety improvements, said: “People are always saying to me how dangerous they feel sitting in the chevron turning right because people coming the other way tend to start overtaking – you feel as though you’re taking your life in your hands.

“At the moment you are like a sitting duck.”

Thames Valley Police confirmed officers would monitor the junction and place a speed indicator device.

Council spokesman Marcus Mabberley said there had been no reported accidents at the junction in the past five years involving overtaking cars.

He said the council received “hundreds” of road safety request, but limited funding meant sites with a “higher accident history” took precedence.

Motorcyclist Ian Blake, 47, died after his Suzuki collided with a car in Wretchwick Way at the junction with Peregrine Way in September 2009.