Oxford residents took to the streets equipped with speed guns and posters yesterday as part of an international campaign to get drivers to slow down.

As part of the 20's Plenty Action Day, members of the Divinity Road area residents' association, in East Oxford, set up a temporary zebra crossing and monitored traffic speed with a speed gun bought over the Internet.

Having become increasingly frustrated with cars travelling at high speed along their road, residents are hoping their findings will force Oxfordshire County Council to introduce a 20mph zone.

Lynne Trenery said: "Our road has become a rat run for commuters and cars are travelling along here at an amazing speed.

"We clocked one car going at 53mph and several others were travelling in the high 30s.

"The crazy thing about all this is the Cowley Road has a 20mph speed limit, which means drivers can turn on to a residential road and drive faster."

As part of a United Nations' road safety week, communities around the city came out to demonstrate support for the introduction of 20mph speed limits in their areas.

In Headington, the Friends of Quarry were in Quarry Hollow with children from nearby Headington Quarry Foundation Stage School.

Residents and parents have become increasingly worried about the speed of cars coming off of the ring road and through Quarry Hollow. Mary Hough, 46, whose son attends the school, said: "I'm backing today's campaign because the speed at which cars are travelling through here is dangerous.

"When a speeding car comes up against a child, there's only going to be one winner."

Residents from Mill Street and Iffley Village were also out demonstrating for 20mph speed limits for their areas.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith joined residents of Iffley Village as they handed out leaflets to passing motorists and gathered signatures for a petition to get the new speed restrictions introduced.

Oxfordshire County Council has said it will consider each application for a 20mph zone on its merits.

Ian Hudspeth, cabinet member for transport implementation, said: "We have heard loud and clear that people want 20mph zones.

"People have every right to feel safe in their local areas. It's a question of whether requests meet criteria and how each request compares with others in terms of priority."