Families in Berinsfield want traffic-calming measures to be installed in a street before a child is seriously injured or killed.

Mother-of-three Sarah Tustain said cars and lorries sped down Evenlode Drive and turned too fast at the bottom where children play.

Residents in Evenlode Drive

Garden gates in the residential cul-de-sac open straight onto the road as there is no pavement. Mrs Tustain said young children often played in the street at the end of Evenlode Drive because the adjoining flats' gardens were too small and older children dominated the village's official play areas. Her children are aged nine, 11 and 13.

She said: "My younger two often play out there because our garden is tiny. It isn't big enough to play swing-ball in. If they go to the play areas they get bullied by older children and often come back crying. It's diabolical, cars come down too fast. If something isn't done, a child is going to get run over."

A dog lying outside one of the gates had its front paws "ripped off" by the wheels of a car a couple of years ago, she said. The Labrador-cross, which belonged to Mrs Tustain's brother, had to be put down. Mrs Tustain said the driver was unsympathetic.

She said: "We are told to put locks on the gates and keep our children in, but you can't lock children up like that."

Another Evenlode resident, Belinda Isle, whose children are two, eight, 10 and 13, said: "I want to see bollards put in to stop all the cars, dust carts and milk floats turning round there.

A spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council said the road safety issues would now be investigated.

Berinsfield beat officer Pc John Cornelius said he would raise the issue with a Thames Valley Police traffic management officer.