Parents have launched a campaign to slash the speed limit on a busy Hampshire road.

They are calling on roads chiefs to take action on the route near Romsey.

Campaigners want the current 40mph restriction on Braishfield Road at Woodley reduced to 30mph.

Around 20 people including mums and their children staged a roadside protest at the junction of Woodley Road and School Road.

Protesters waved homemade 30mph signage at motorists to get their message across.

Campaigner Ria Skelton said: “Drivers sped past us. We need something done about the speed limit urgently, or are authorities going to wait until someone is badly injured or killed crossing this road?”

The mum, whose a six-year-old daughter Rosie walks to school in Cupernham, says the road will become even more difficult to cross once the nearby 800-home Abbotswood village is built.

Campaigners are urging people to write to Hampshire’s deputy leader Roy Perry whose division includes Woodley.

He said: “I have been pressing for a long time for a lower speed limit on this road because I am very conscious of the need for children from Woodley and Hunters Crescent to cross that road to get to Cupernham School.”

He added that the county council has plans to install crossing points along the road and lower the existing speed limit.

However, the improvements are linked to the Abbotswood development and probably will not be put in place for a while. Mr Perry said: “I will be urging HCC Highways that those road safety proposals are implemented as soon as possible.”