A CAMPAIGN to drive down speed limits in Cirencester is set to be launched following the death of a grandmother on a busy dual carriageway.

In the past three weeks, three lives have been lost on roads in and around Cirencester.

The town's deputy mayor Joe Harris said change was needed and he plans to launch a long-term campaign by the end of this month to increase road safety.

Along with initiatives to raise speed awareness and to better educate young drivers, Cllr Harris said he hoped to reduce the speed limit along the A429 stretch from Cirencester Hospital to the Royal Agricultural College.

"At the moment it’s 70mph which is ridiculous. It’s not the longest stretch of road and you just go from one roundabout to the other.

"If that was a new road you would never make it national speed limit, especially because it’s in a residential area and with a school next to it. It definitely needs to be reduced."

The initiative holds particular significance for the councillor, whose friend 18-year-old James Griffiths, from Coates, died in a car crash on the Tetbury Road in December 2011.

"All car related deaths shouldn’t have to happen," Joe said. "This will be a positive campaign."

Standard readers have also called for speed limits to be revised around the town and safety barriers put in place following the death of 59-year-old Susan MacKenzie, from Cirencester, who was hit by a car as she crossed the A429 last week.

'The News Reader' commented on the Standard's website: "I would vote for an immediate 30 mph speed restriction from the Waitrose roundabout to the Agriculture College roundabout.

"Literally hundreds of kids walk this section to Deer Park and the college every day and it's really scary having cars driving 70mph only feet away from you."

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