The deaths of the three boys strengthened calls for a barrier

Members of Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet are to consider the �600,000 plan for Oxford's eastern bypass.

The boys - and a 21-year-old man - died after a head-on collision on the A4142 on 28 May.

Roads bosses say action had not been taken before because there had been few such accidents on the road.

'Reasoned exception'

That meant the road had not met the standard criteria to be eligible for funding in the past - but the recent accident and calls from the public have overridden that.

Richard Dix, the council's interim head of transport, said: "I regard this as a reasoned exception to the general rule on safety schemes and not a precedent to set those rules aside." The council's engineers have proposed building a vertical concrete safety barrier because high-voltage power cables running along the central reservation have ruled out normal metal barriers.

It has also been proposed to reduce the road's speed limit to 50mph.

Howard Hillsdon was driving one of the cars involved

Councillor David Robertson, the county council's cabinet member for transport, said: "This has been a very complex matter for a number of reasons.

"We have had to look at the history of the site, our own resources, the needs of electricity companies and the requests of the general public.

"The scheme that has been proposed, a specific type of barrier and a speed limit, takes all that in to account."

The cabinet will consider the plan at a meeting on 6 September.