The Plain: Cycling safety improvements to start at Oxford roundabout

Safety work on and around The Plain will be completed later this month, the council has said

Safety improvements will be completed at a roundabout where an Oxford University scientist was killed.

Oxfordshire County Council said it wanted to improve safety at The Plain in Oxford after cyclist Dr Ling Felce was hit by a lorry driven by an unqualified, uninsured driver in March.

That and other accidents led the authority to adopt a programme in June in an effort to stop all road deaths and serious injuries by 2050.

The work will start on 21 November.

Robert Whiting, 40, was jailed for eight years in September for causing Dr Felce's death. He was more than eight times over the drug-drive limit at the time of the crash.

The council said about 12,000 bike journeys a day are made at The Plain during university term times.

Changes will include alterations to road markings and traffic signs. New road studs, bollards, cycle stands and light cycle lane segregation units will be installed.

Dr Felce's husband James said she was "the light" of their family

The work at The Plain, Cowley Road, Iffley Road, Cowley Place and St Clement's Street is expected to finish on 25 November.

Every day it will be carried out between 20:00 and 05:00 to minimise disruption.

The council adopted its Vision Zero strategy after the deaths of mother-of-two Dr Felce, Ellen Moilanen near Oxford Parkway station in February and Jennifer Wong in Headington in September 2021.

Other improvements have been undertaken in Headington following Jennifer Wong's death in September 2021

Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for highways management, said: "Our commitment to Vision Zero means we will continue to work with local cycling groups to help ensure new cycling infrastructure is designed and delivered to maximise safety.

"We want people to feel safe and secure when travelling around the city and county by bike and it's clear that we need to continue to improve."