Firefighters, police officers, and paramedics will be putting on a demonstration of how they deal with serious road accidents in Witney’s Market Square on Friday, April 17.

Volunteers are needed to play the parts of crash victims trapped inside cars and people injured in a road accident.

Emergency service personnel will demonstrate what happens before, during and after a road accident, which will involve showing how firefighters cut people free from cars.

The county council’s transport manager, Ian Hudspeth, said these type of events were an effective way making people understand the importance of safe driving.

He added: “I hope people will go along to find out more about what they can do to prevent getting involved in a collision in the first place — the thing we’d all much prefer.

“Where people are most at risk and how speed reduction has such a big impact locally is just some of the information that will be available on the day.”

Mr Hudspeth said he also hoped that the event would see more young drivers taking up the chance to get involved.

Last year, there were 42 deaths on the county’s roads, an increase on the 34 deaths in 2007.

Judith Heathcoat, the county council’s cabinet member for community safety, said: “While the demonstration will be exciting to watch, we ought to remember that a real life crash can be a horrific experience for all those involved, from the casualties, through to the emergency service personnel.”

The event will be taking place between 10am and 2pm.

Anyone who wants to get involved should get down there before that to volunteer their services.