27/02/2017 South Today - Oxford

Welcome to the programme. for the news where you are.

Welcome to the programme. Face-to-face with her boyfriend's

Keller. In meeting between a women and the man whose careless driving

led to the loss of her boyfriend's life. We will be assessing if the

road is one of the region's most road is one of the region's most

dangerous road. I will have the weather for the week ahead shortly.

First tonight: these are the faces of people who've died in car

crashes in the south - all of them victims of motorists

This week, a new law comes into force which will double

One teacher from Swindon is now calling for schoolchildren to be

taught about the dangers of using mobile phones at the wheel.

She has her own personal reasons for wanting to change the culture.

Matt Graveling has this exclusive report.

Gavin was an Australian through and through.

We'd talked about potentially going out

It was something we were both really looking forward to.

He was on his way to work and then he was about six miles

or so from work and then just didn't make it.

Lewis Stratford, a 24-year-old painter and decorator from Oxford,

was driving and arguing with his

girlfriend on the phone when he crashed into Gavin's car.

I wish I could turn back time, change obviously not

And from that moment I was just blaming everything on me.

And I didn't wanna get better then, I didn't want the physio,

here to pay for the mistake that I've made and punished.

Gavin died of his injuries four days after the accident.

pleaded guilty to causing his death by dangerous driving.

When someone gets convicted of a crime or an offence you never

get to see what that person's like and what

Just days before he's due back in court to be sentenced,

I want to ask what he was thinking, what possessed him to pick

up his mobile phone behind the wheel.

how it might affect him and to let him know how I'm

With our cameras present, and restorative justice

An apology that's given in court is very often mistrusted by a victim

whereas if a victim sits down face to face with the person who has

caused the harm that can be enormously helpful in allowing

victims then to be able to move on from what's happened.

I'll never forget it ever and I'll never be sorry enough but I can't

every time I say sorry it sounds a bit cheap,

it just sounds not good enough but I am.

A little bit but then so many people do it, so many people.

I do not want to hate you for ever. I am not that type of person.

Eventually I will be able to forgive you. I just need some questions

answering first. English teacher Meg is now calling

for all schoolchildren to be taught about the dangers of using mobiles

behind the wheel before Meanwhile, a report commissioned

by BBC South has found that the A34 isn't more dangerous

than other roads - The data has been analysed

by experts as our transport In the last five years, the A34 has

been closed 56 times due to accidents in which people have

been injured or killed. Obviously there have been a number

of very high profile collisions on this road,

but when we look at the collision rate compared to other

roads of a similar type, we actually find it's got

a relatively good safety record. Over the last ten

years, the number of Some parts of the route

are higher risk than others. The northern and southern

ends are worst. The crash rate is one third less

than the national average for this type of road.

The crashes here are mostly due to driver error,

not to the design of the road or the number of vehicles.

Here, just over one vehicle in ten is a lorry,

so we looked specifically at crashes involving heavy goods vehicles.

Over the last ten years, the rate has

fluctuated, but the trend is downwards and its ahead of the

Putting all the statistics together, we've found no evidence that the A34

is significantly more dangerous than other roads.

In other news, a prison officer is going to be charged

with manslaughter and misconduct in public office, over the death

of an inmate in Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes.

Joseph Travers will appear before magistrates in April.

It follows the death of a prisoner, believed to be

Specialist police officers digging at the former Swindon home

of the convicted murderer Christopher Halliwell

Investigators began looking in the gardens and garages of two

properties in Broad Street last week but paused over the weekend.

Halliwell is serving two life sentences for killing Becky Godden

Campaigners in Oxfordshire say they're angry over some parish

Some have increased their charges by 17%

in the last three years, according to new BBC research.

Here's our political reporter Bethan Phillips.

It's not long before council tax bills will be landing on our mats.

And if you've got a parish or town council in your area,

you might be in for a shock, with some parishes by more than 500%

The pressure group Is It Fair says district and county councils

are deliberately passing on responsibilities to parish

councils, who aren't restricted by a 2% cap on increases,

that applies to most other authorities.

The parish councils have the choice of saying no, we're not going to do

The Government has promised they will

look at it and look at it and look at it, but they have

In Oxfordshire Berinsfield is charging

the most for Band D homes - they're currently paying

nearly ?180 a year for their parish council.

It says that for nine years it hasn't actually

asked for more overall - but the amount of tax it's been able

to raise has been decreasing, at the same time its list

Whilst as an individual I am not adverse to local people have

Whilst as an individual I am not adverse to local people having

local decisions, it does concern me, as volunteers, we are giving up our

time to do well by the community and more and more things are being asked

Berinsfield isn't the only one taking on more.

Carterton Town Council has been helping to keep a children's

centre going in town - after ongoing county

The government says it expects parishes to "demonstrate

restraint" when it comes to council tax rises - but a cap,

similar to the one placed on district and county councils,

doesn't seem to be on the cards at the moment.

We're back in BBC Breakfast tomorrow morning.

Alexis Green has your weather next.

Did evening. It stays blustery at times. Heavy showers today. They

will continue through this evening but gradually ease. Some chilly

mornings this week and blustery showers at times. Sunny spells as

well. Temperatures will fall away. Frost in the countryside and the

risk of showers. Lead and snow. -- sleet and snow. Temperatures falling

to breezing in the countryside. Brisk tomorrow. Clouding over

through the afternoon. Blustery showers and could be wintry in a

couple of places. Highs tomorrow of six or seven Celsius. There will be

some afternoon sunshine in between these scattered showers. Further

showers are possible tomorrow night. They will ease during Wednesday

morning. Those tomorrow night of two or three Celsius. Temperatures

falling to around freezing, that is the risk of ice patches first thing

on Wednesday morning. Wednesday is going to be a dry and sunny start to

the day. Bringing the risk of rain to southern parts of the region. We

places and temperatures reaching a places and temperatures reaching a

high of eight Celsius. Thursday should be a mainly dry day. Sunny

spells to be had and then the next weather system is expected to arrive

Thursday night and stay with us through Friday. Friday, rain at

times. Things can change. The outbreaks of rain will be with us

during the day and clearing by Friday evening and into Saturday

morning. Highs on Friday of eight Celsius. This weekend, rain and

showers at time. Unsettled and sunny spells.

John Hammond has the weather for the rest of the country.

According to one man-made definition, spring begins in a

couple of days, but in reality weather does it own thing at its own

pace. This was taken in Midlothian, a funny old day, some lovely

rainbows, downpours, burst of sunshine, and out of the breeze it

felt a little bit springlike. At the moment we have clusters of cloud

crossing the country, generating wintry showers, clearer gaps in

between allowing sunshine by day, but overnight that means dropping

temperatures, already a frost in some places. Further wintry showers

particularly out West, one or two making it further east, with some

ice around first thing in the morning, temperatures falling away,

close to freezing or just above in the larger towns and cities. There

will be frost particularly through parts of Scotland first thing in the

morning, watch out for ice, and rain