Motorists are being warned to drive carefully by signs which pull no punches about the dangers posed by stretches of the county's roads.

Oxfordshire County Council is working with Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership (SRP) to install signs on rural routes which warn drivers how many accidents there have been causing injury during the previous three years.

The 'Route Alert' signs are designed to encourage drivers to drive more carefully along the entire route, rather than a particular 'hot spot'. The information about accidents and casualties will be updated every six months.

The routes involved have already received attention from highways engineers to improve safety or from police speed enforcement.

Signs have been placed along 11 roads in the Thames Valley to identify significant dangers, and provide warnings such as 'Watch Your Speed', or 'Beware Turning traffic'.

The impact of the signs upon driver behaviour, collisions and speeds will then be studied.

Supt Neil Olney, head of Thames Valley traffic police, said: "I regularly have to deploy officers to the scene of some very tragic collisions along these routes.

"If one family can be saved from this kind of terrible news then Route Alert will have achieved a great deal."

Oxfordshire County Council executive member for transport David Robertson said: "We are deeply concerned about the number of people being killed or seriously injured on the roads in our county. We are working hard to try to reduce these figures, and are hopeful that Route Alert will make a significant contribution."

Bruce Walton, Thames Valley SRP collision analyst, said: "Crashes don't just happen at 'hot spots'. Often they are spread out along a whole route. They arise from different factors, including speed, overtaking and turning at junctions."