A NOTORIOUS stretch of road where five people have died in less than three years needs more safety measures, according to two councillors.

An elderly woman was rescued from the wreckage of her overturned car last Wednesday after it was involved in a collision with another car on the A415 close to Cokethorpe School, near Ducklington.

Firefighters spent an hour supporting the body of the severely injured woman in her 60s as she was cut free from her car.

The crash was just 125m from the spot where 21-year-old James Franklin was killed the Saturday before.

West Oxfordshire District councillor for Standlake Brenda Smith said: "Twice in five days is beyond a coincidence, it really is.

"I don't think the county council is taking it seriously and meanwhile the toll is mounting.

"The county council should be asked what they say after dropping the A415 improvement scheme."

Steve Hayward, district councillor for Ducklington, believes trees are blocking visibility on the road and has called for them to be cut back.

He said: "Trees block the visibility from the end of the Ducklington bypass just past Cokethorpe School to Mill turn. It's possible that's what causes accidents.

"There's a lot of commercial traffic on the road on the way to an industrial estate. The county council needs to do something instead of making excuses."

Staff at the county council say they will review the need for further safety measures.

Anthony Kirkwood, of the county council road safety engineering team, said: "Recent work includes the Yelford signals, 50 Limit and Vehicle Activated Signs. We monitor their effectiveness and will of course review the need for further measures in the light of this."

Fire station manager Chris Wilson, from Rewley Road in Oxford, has described the road as a notorious blackspot after the latest accident.

Mr Wilson and his crew arrived to find that the driver of a Peugeot 406 had managed to pull himself out of his battered car, but the woman's Peugeot 206 was overturned in a ditch.

It was an hour before the woman - who is thought to be in her 60s - could be extracted from her car. She was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

Mr Franklin, of Monmouth Road, Oxford, was driving his Renault Clio when he collided with a Ford Transit van on November 4.

He later died at the John Radcliffe Hospital as a result of his injuries.

Oxfordshire County Council had designed an A415 road improvement scheme to bid for funds from central Government, but have recently learned that it is unlikely that this bid will be successful.

There have been 53 deaths on the county's road this year - 13 more than last year.