CAMPAIGNERS have claimed drivers are being put at risk because there are no barriers along the middle of one of Oxford’s busiest trunk roads.

In May 2005, Marshall Haynes, Liam Hastings and Josh Bartlett, all 13, died, when the car they were travelling in hit oncoming traffic on the Eastern Bypass.

Student Howard Hillsdon, 21, was also killed in the crash and former nurse Angela Dublin was jailed for two years after she admitted dangerous driving.

About £735,000 was spent on erecting central crash barriers after the car veered across the central reservation at 70mph.

Now it has been claimed A34 users on the stretch between South Hinksey and North Hinksey are being left dangerously unprotected.

Only bushes separate north and south-bound traffic and villagers fear it is only a matter of time before a vehicle ploughs across the reservation.

Maggie Rawcliffe, chairman of South Hinksey Parish Council, has raised the issue at the Botley Traffic Advisory Committee.

She said: “A central barrier on the A34 runs continuously from the M4, except for some reason from the South Hinksey slip road to North Hinksey.”

An accident last month on the A34 when a HGV crashed into the central reservation just north of the Milton interchange highlighted the danger.

Mrs Rawcliffe said such an incident between the two Hinksey villages may well have resulted in loss of lives.

Her husband Peter Rawcliffe said: “There is no crash barrier there, only intermittent bushes which would be turned to matchwood by a lorry.

“When the inevitable accident happens, if the road is busy, many could be killed or injured.”

He said the barriers were only introduced on the Eastern Bypass following the 2005 tragedy.

Alan Stone, secretary of the Botley Traffic Advisory Committee, said the danger was made worse because on this stretch of the A34 the northbound carriageway was substantially higher than the southbound carriageway.

Improvements made to the Oxford Ring Road in the aftermath of the 2005 tragedy resulted in the road being recognised as one of the most improved in Britain for road safety.

The 8km stretch of road saw a 63 per cent cut in collisions resulting in death or serious injury, a report by the Road Safety Foundation showed.

In addition to building a central crash barrier, the speed limit was cut from 70mph to 50mph.

Highways Agency spokesman James Wright, said: “Among the many factors we take into consideration when deciding whether to install a safety barrier in the central reservation is the distance between carriageways.

“The A34 near Hinksey is a straight section of road with up to 15 metres between carriageways and the risk of a vehicle crossing from one carriageway to the other is low. On other sections – where the carriageways are closer together, for example – a safety barrier has been provided.

“We are keeping an open mind.”