Speed limit could be cut after death - coroner

A council should consider cutting the speed limit on a busy town centre road after a pensioner was killed crossing it, a coroner said.

Anthony Paine, 75, was knocked over by a car on North Bar Street in Banbury, Oxfordshire, on 24 March 2023.

Mr Paine, from Warwickshire, used a pedestrian crossing at about 22:45 GMT but did not wait for its traffic lights to change because he thought the road was clear, coroner Nicholas Graham found.

But he was fatally hit by a Nissan Pixo, whose driver had not seen Mr Paine, Oxford Coroner's Court was told.

Mr Graham heard an investigator found that even if the driver had seen Mr Paine, they would have had "insufficient time to react and avoid the collision".

The investigator found the Nissan was being driven at between 29mph (46.6kph) and 36.2mph (58.3kph) when it struck Mr Paine and that, had it been slower, the driver might have been able to react.

Mr Graham wrote to Oxfordshire County Council, which sets the speed limit for North Bar Street, to consider reducing it to 20mph (32.2kph) from 30mph (48.3kph).

The authority's highways department should react to Mr Graham's concerns by early March.

His report, which was published on 9 January, was also sent to Mr Paine's family and Thames Valley Police.

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