Transport officials hope slower speeds on the A34 near Oxford will cut accidents and improve journey times.

Speed limits on the northbound carriageway, north of the Botley interchange, will be lowered to 50mph under Highways Agency plans.

The changes will extend the current 50mph limit by a further 1km.

Highways Agency engineers said the majority of accidents on that stretch of the road involved cars joining at Botley.

It said junction safety was compromised by drivers on the A34 speeding up as they passed the slip roads because they could see the end of the 50mph section ahead of them.

Extending the speed limit would stop traffic accelerating and improve safety.

Agency spokesman Jane manning said: "The speed limit extension and the associated reduction in speed through the merge, along with improved signage and anti-skid surfacing would improve safety for traffic joining from the slip road."

Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for infrastructure Ian Hudspeth hoped journey times would also improve.

He said: "During the roadworks there was a 40mph limit in place on this stretch.

"We were concerned it would be a problem, but it actually smoothed out traffic flows."

"This (lower limit) may reduce traffic bunching and improve journey times."