Around 30,000 road accidents happen in Oxfordshire every year. That number comes from the county council's own casualty data and includes everything from minor car park bumps to fatal collisions on dual carriageways, spread across more than 4,200km of road.
Casualty rates have fallen, but the same junctions keep appearing in the stats year after year, and if you drive around the county regularly, you'll recognise more than a few of them. Here's a look at the worst spots by the numbers and what your rights are if you end up in a crash.
The A40 at Barnard Gate
A staggered junction near Eynsham, where minor roads meet the A40, has been a collision hotspot for years. Between 2019 and mid-2025, the county council's collision analysis for the junction recorded four serious injury collisions involving vehicles turning out of Barnard Gate, and three of those were confirmed as right-turn manoeuvres.
Gaps are rare. The A40 carries fast, constant traffic with very little let-up, so drivers turning right end up gambling on openings that aren't really there. Local parish councils have pushed for changes for years now, and the county council is finally trialling an experimental right-turn ban at the junction under its Vision Zero programme.
The Plain Roundabout, Oxford
Cowley Road, Iffley Road, St Clement's and the High Street all converge at The Plain, right near Magdalen Bridge. It's one of Oxford's busiest junctions. Department for Transport data analysed by Crash Map showed 55 pedal-cycle collisions there between 2015 and 2019, and the roundabout has been ranked as one of the most dangerous for cyclists in the entire UK.
Around 12,000 bike journeys pass through every day during term time. An illegal left-turn shortcut that drivers regularly take from Cowley Road onto Iffley Road, paired with a layout that confuses even experienced cyclists, has been blamed for much of the danger. Cameras and new cycle lane segregation have gone in since, but the junction hasn't lost its reputation.
The A34 Corridor
Between the M40 and the south coast, the A34 runs right through the heart of Oxfordshire and carries enormous volumes of traffic. Closures here can gridlock Oxford. The stretch from Hinksey Hill to the Peartree Interchange sees regular serious collisions, and the knock-on effect on surrounding roads makes it one of the county's most disruptive routes when things go wrong.
The slip roads are a big part of the problem. Many are too short for drivers to reach a safe merging speed, and some sit on steep gradients or sharp bends that leave very little room for error. A cross-party group of MPs raised the issue in Parliament in 2025, and National Highways is now running a safety study covering the A34 north and south of Oxford. Road markings and LED road studs at Hinksey Hill and the Botley Interchange have already been replaced, but the slip road layout itself remains unchanged.
What To Do After a Junction Collision
These junctions are busy, confusing and difficult to avoid if you live locally. If you're involved in a collision at any of them, stop the vehicle, check for injuries and call 999 if anyone is hurt or the road is blocked. Exchange names, addresses, insurance details and registration numbers with the other driver. Take photos of the damage, the road layout, any signage and the weather conditions before anything gets moved. At a junction like The Plain or Barnard Gate, where the layout itself is part of the problem, photos of the junction from the driver's perspective can be especially useful later on.
Report the accident to your insurer within the timeframe your policy requires, even if you weren't at fault. Failing to do so can cause problems with your cover later.
And What if it Wasn’t Your Fault at All?
If the other driver caused it, you don't have to go through your own insurer. Most drivers don't know that. An accident management company can handle the full claim against the at-fault driver's insurer directly, covering repairs, a like-for-like replacement vehicle and any injury claims.
A non-fault car accident claim managed this way means no excess, no impact on your no-claims bonus and no weeks spent chasing the other side yourself. If you or any passengers were injured, the same process can connect you with a solicitor on a no-win, no-fee basis.
Know the Roads, Know Your Rights
The pattern across these junctions is hard to ignore. Fast-moving through traffic meeting turning movements at layouts that were never designed for the volumes they handle now. Barnard Gate, The Plain and the A34 corridor have been flagged in casualty data for years, and while cameras, lane changes and experimental turn bans are slowly going in, the fixes are arriving a lot slower than the collisions.
For anyone driving these routes regularly, that gap between the known problem and the actual solution is where the risk sits. You can't redesign a junction from behind the wheel, but you can approach the ones on this list expecting the unexpected, because the drivers turning across your path at Barnard Gate or cutting across the roundabout at The Plain aren't going to stop doing it just because the data says they shouldn't.
