Cycling campaigners and a construction company frustrated by the lack of a warning road sign about an accident blackspot in Oxford have placed their own shocking sign at the scene.

Cyclox, the Oxford Cycling Campaign, and Cooper Construction of Witney, teamed up to raise awareness among cyclists, of the dangers posed by construction traffic on Botley Road, Oxford.

The scene of more than 30 accidents and two fatalities in the past five years, the junction of Botley Road and Roger Dudman Way is now adorned by a four-feet image of a blood-splattered cycle logo being pierced by a left turning arrow.

A Cyclox spokesman said: "One woman cyclist and another woman's unborn child have been killed and many others injured at the junction, by left turning HGVs delivering to sites in Roger Dudman Way.

"Cyclox asks Oxfordshire County Council Highways Department to not remove the sign, despite it's unofficial provenance, as removal would undoubtedly endanger the lives of cyclists passing through this intersection."

Ted Dewan, who designed the poster, added: "The sign is shocking, but the thing that is really shocking is what is being left to happen on this road.

"Bones are being broken and flesh is being crushed.

"Hopefully this sign will help prevent further loss of life. But if the council take it down, we'll see where their hearts lie."

Lisa Harker, 37, lost her unborn child and almost her life beneath the wheels of an 18-tonne lorry, as it turned left into Roger Dudman Way in April 2004.

Mrs Harker, of Botley, Oxford, was 17 weeks pregnant after five years of trying for a baby but the child did not survive the impact.

Rachel Barker was killed by a lorry turning left at the adjacent Cripley Road junction in 2000.