Around 100 people attended a protest calling for safer streets and an end to dangerous driving in Oxford.

The demonstration at the Plain roundabout on Saturday was part a national day of action organised by of the Safe Streets Now campaign.

It followed the latest release of data on accidents and injuries by the Department for Transport.

Residents group Coalition for Health Streets and Active Travel (CoHSAT) said: "Every day on roads in Britain five people are killed.

Oxford Mail: Safe Streets Now protest at The Plain

"In Oxfordshire last year 24 people were killed.

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"These are not accidents. They're preventable events mostly caused by careless or dangerous driving."

CoHSAT's analysis of the figures found half of the deaths in Oxfordshire last year were in a car, six were motorcyclists, three were pedestrians, two were cyclists and one was in a lorry.

Thousands of people were also injured in road collisions which they said cannot continue.

Lily Martyn, parent to a six-year-old, who joined the protest at the roundabout where Dr Ling Felce was killed in March 2022, told The Guardian: “We shouldn’t fear that we might be killed every time we get on the roads.

Oxford Mail: Safe Streets Now protest at The Plain

"Drivers need to be aware when they get behind the wheel that they could kill someone, and they need to behave appropriately.”

Oxford Pedestrians Association and cycling campaign group Cyclox also attended the protest.

Cyclox tweeted: "We seek an end to dangerous roads and dangerous driving. We want safe streets for all road users."

Green Party councillor Emily Kerr, who took her children to the protest, said: "We have consistently seen over the years that all attempts to impose limits on driving attract strong emotions from a small minority of drivers.

Oxford Mail: Safe Streets Now protest at The Plain

"When seatbelts were mandated, when drink-driving was banned, when compulsory speed limits were introduced, and today when we see the furore over in Wales about 20mph.

"But we know that all of these things, including LTNs which reduce accidents by 50 per cent, made roads safer and there is broad-based support for all of them - as we consistently see in representative polling."

Ms Kerr said the idea that the protest was attended only by white, middle-class people was "completely ludicrous".

Referring to a Tweet of a Volvo 4X4 and a comment that it was badly parked so "Nimbys" could "unload their bikes for the photo op", she said: "Yes, I saw the amusing hypothesis that that car was involved in our protest - I can confirm it wasn't!

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"As your Oxford Mail photographer will tell you, our photos were of people, not bicycles."

Oxford Mail: Safe Streets Now protest at The Plain

She added: "You only have to walk around Oxford to see that saying that all cyclists are white and middle class is completely ludicrous - everyone - whether they're trying to get their kids safely to school, delivering food by bike, commuting or running errands by bike - we want to make it safe for everyone to walk and cycle around our great city." 

Oxfordshire County Council's Vision Zero strategy aims for zero road deaths and life changing injuries by 2050, with a 50 per cent reduction by 2030.

Campaigners said the pace of change needs to run much faster and more needs to be done to change the design of roads to reduce risks for cyclists and pedestrians.