ALMOST one car every minute is speeding on Oxford's Eastern Bypass.

A speed check carried out by our reporters clocked 54 motorists breaking the 50mph limit in just 60 minutes - including two cars that were doing 84mph.

Mobile speed cameras were first used on the road exactly six months ago.

The speed limit was reduced following the deaths of schoolboys Marshall Haynes, Liam Hastings and Josh Bartlett, all 13, and 21-year-old Oxford Brookes University student Howard Hillsdon in a crash in May 2005.

But an hour-long check yesterday clearly showed drivers were continuing to flout the law, despite numerous warning signs.

The checks were carried out using a speed gun from the Old Road bridge over the bypass.

Between noon and 12.30pm, 19 drivers were clocked speeding southbound. These included cars travelling at 70, 80 and 84mph. In the next half-hour, 35 vehicles broke the limit northbound, at speeds including 82 and 84mph.

Malcolm Collis, the head of roads policing in Oxfordshire, said: "There is understandably compliance when the mobile camera is there, but it can never be a permanent solution and there must be an element of self-compliance.

"We all know the reason why there is a 50mph limit.

"Of course, there are a number of signs all along the road, but it's a sad fact people are still breaking the speed limit.

"There is solid evidence that the higher speed you go, the chance you are going to have a collision goes up considerably - your reaction times go down and the higher the speed, the bigger the bang."

The 54 drivers we spotted were all travelling above 57mph, which, according to guidelines issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers, is the recognised level for a prosecution for a car travelling at more than 50mph.

Joy Bull's son Adrian, now 28, suffered life-threatening injuries after a collision with a lorry on the road seven years ago. Mrs Bull, of Ridgeway Road, Risinghurst, campaigned for the speed limit to be cut and the change was finally made after the 2005 crash.

She said: "I would like to show these drivers a few photos of my son and, although he's remarkable, he'll never be the same again.

"Dropping the speed limit and having a mobile camera is a step in the right direction. But you can still see what's going on a daily or hourly basis and maybe the next step is a fixed camera."

Although speed was not a factor in the 2005 crash, the speed limit was cut to 50mph and a concrete barrier was installed.

Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership began mobile camera enforcement in April and caught 76 motorists breaking the limit in two days - including one driving at 101mph.

The Eastern Bypass is not in the partnership's list of the top ten roads for injury accidents in the county, because no enforcement was carried out from 2004-6.

Since the 2005 accident, at least six motorists have suffered injuries in crashes on the road.