PEOPLE living near one of County Durham's busiest roads are to step up their campaign for a speed limit by launching a petition.

Villagers in Witton-le-Wear have the A68 on their doorsteps and the road has been the scene of several accidents in recent years.

Locals fear it will be the site of many more unless action is taken.

Most recently, a man and a dog died and a couple were injured in a head-on crash, while earlier in the year, a teenager was injured when his car flipped over and landed on its roof after colliding with a house.

Residents have been calling for speed restrictions on the road for years, but have been told that it does not meet the criteria because there are only houses on one side and there have only been a handful of reported accidents.

Now residents Barry Hall and Craig Stonehouse are collect signatures to send to Durham County Council and police, demanding measures are put in place to prevent further casualties.

"We've got a petition up and drafted - it's just a case of when we start collecting names," said Mr Hall, adding that it was likely to be January.

"We are calling for speed restrictions on the A68 and calming measures and we've had a lot of support.

"We have wagons speeding through the village at all hours. We want to slow them down - we want to slow everyone down. Speed kills but at the moment there's nothing to stop them."

Mr Hall added that a village meeting was being planned to discuss the campaign, and said he was preparing a hard-hitting presentation, including images of an overturned car and helicopters at the scene following previous crashes on the site.

"I thought long and hard about using an image of the ambulance and the helicopter, but if that's the way to get the message across then so be it," said Mr Hall.

Mr Hall has also contacted his Durham county councillor, John Shuttleworth, who added his backing.

He said: "I fully support him and the other residents. It clearly is an issue that needs to be addressed."

A Durham police spokesman said that there had been no change to the criteria for speed restrictions to be installed.