A TEENAGER has launched a campaign to make his walk to school in North Oxford and Summertown safer.

Cherwell School pupil Phoenix Sremcevic, 15, has started an e-petition calling on Oxfordshire County Council to put in crossings.

He wants two pelican pedestrian crossings at the southern and eastern points of the junction of Banbury Road and Marston Ferry Road.

The petition says: “Children of many ages need to use it on the way to school, unaccompanied by adults. The nearby Cherwell School has 1,800 students and the majority of them use this junction daily at peak times.

“There have been a number of near misses as pedestrians attempt to cross when it is difficult to judge the flow of oncoming cars.”

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Phoenix, who lives in the city centre, said: “I get off the bus on Banbury Road and walk down Marston Ferry Road to get to school. It’s a hazard for me, it’s dangerous.

“It’s annoying for people who live there, and there are older people and children in the area. A lot of people in my school agreed that there should be a traffic light crossing.”

He is running the campaign as part of his citizenship studies GCSE, and said: “I came up with it because a car swerved quickly and nearly hit me.”

Jean Fooks, county councillor for Wolvercote and Summertown, said: “I absolutely agree there’s a shortage of crossings on that junction.

“It is an issue that has been raised before. Luckily there have not been any accidents yet.”

She added: “It’s great that a 15-year-old is doing this. It’s exactly what we need: some young citizens saying, ‘This isn’t right, let’s do something about it’.”

Cherwell School governor and St Margaret’s county councillor John Howson said: “Something needs to be done. I’ve been concerned about it ever since I was elected.

“I would certainly back a petition to get more crossings for pedestrians, particularly because the number of children at Cherwell School is increasing.

“One doesn’t want to get into the situation where we have to wait for a major accident before something is done.”

However, a council spokesman said a crossing would cause too many delays at the busy intersection.

County council spokesman Dominic Llewellyn-Jones said: “This has been a long-standing concern, but unfortunately the impact on traffic delays of providing a pedestrian phase here would be quite severe on a major bus route where there are already significant peak hour delays.”

If the petition gets to 10 signatures it will be passed to an officer to respond.

If it passes 2,000 signatures petitioners have the right to request an officer to attend a public meeting. A debate at a council meeting requires almost 8,000 signatures.

The petition has more than 60 signatures and is available at tinyurl.com/oeqdn2x

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