PARENTS have taken traffic safety into their own hands after the county council said it would not put in new measures on a “notorious rat-run.”

Teachers, parents and governors at Headington Quarry Foundation School have produced a banner warning “children crossing” in a bid to alert drivers to the danger.

They began the campaign to get traffic calming measures and a pedestrian crossing between Quarry Hollow and Quarry School Place after increased use by commuters and lorry drivers.

Campaigners said the use of the road had increased because of the roadworks on the Eastern Bypass Road and the A40.

Oxfordshire county councillor for Headington and Quarry Roz Smith said: “There have been times where children are walking on the footpaths and cars are driving on to them to manoeuvre.

“It’s not safe and the problem seems to be getting worse.

“I have been walking down there and have seen lorries trying to pass oncoming traffic.

“It’s basically being used as a rat-run because it comes up on satnav as an alternative route.

“It’s becoming dangerous with the greater volume of traffic. It needs to be resolved before there is an accident.”

Mrs Smith said the issue got increasingly worse when work on the London Road began last October.

The campaign to get Oxfordshire County Council to improve the safety of the roads got under way in May.

The council manages all major roads in the city and the road has not been adjusted since speed bumps were installed in 1991.

Campaigner Gena Leveson got 500 signatures from residents, staff and parents asking the county council to install new traffic calming measures.

The 39-year-old, who has two of her three children at the school, said: “I got a response from the council basically saying there was no money. There is money. It’s just a case of priorities.

“The most important thing for the council is to safeguard the most vulnerable road users – children.”

In a response to Mrs Leveson and the petition, council officer Mark Kemp said: “We agree that the traffic calming measures provided in 1991 are fairly widely placed, and that their design is quite gentle.

“On account of this, their effect on traffic speeds – and as a deterrent to rat-running traffic – is relatively modest.

“While it would certainly be technically feasible to provide stronger traffic calming features, unfortunately we have no specific budget available.”

The “children crossing” banner cost the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) about £90.

Mrs Smith said: “The banner has come out really well. Hopefully it will get the message out there that there are young children crossing.”

The PTA is continuing to ask the council to improve safety for children and has asked if some of the £12.5m earmarked for the controversial Access to Headington scheme can be used for road safety.

Council spokeswoman Emily Reed said: “The £12.5m Access to Headington funding was awarded to the county council for a specific project, and therefore traffic calming measures in Quarry Hollow do not fall within the scope of that project. Therefore we couldn’t use Access to Headington funding for that purpose.”