6:50pm Tuesday 9th February 2010
By Daniel Binns
RESIDENTS living in a village plagued by almost weekly car crashes have accused Essex County Council of fobbing off their demands for road calming measures.
People living in Coopersale Street and Mount Road in Fiddlers Hamlet, Epping, say they are fed up of cars tearing through their quiet neighbourhood, where the speed limit is 60mph, and smashing into their front gardens, walls and fences.
The council says it cannot install traffic calming such as speed humps because the village has no street lights, but frustrated residents have pointed out that other areas of the district which lack illumination, such as High Beach, do have such measures.
John Evans, 46, has had to have his front brick wall rebuilt with reinforced steal after more than 30 crashes in the one-and-a-half years he has lived in the village.
He said: “It is very, very dangerous. It's not going to be long before someone gets seriously hurt or die.
“We need traffic calming. There's not even signposts warning people, let alone anything else.”
Roy James, 58, helps run The Merry Fiddlers pub with his wife in the village.
He said: “The roads into the village are blind corners - we need speed bumps or a roundabout, anything that can slow the cars down. We've been asking for ages but nothing gets done.”
Campaigner Simon Levy said: “It is terrifying the speed some of the cars go at but Essex County Council are neglecting their duties in dealing with this and are putting lives at risk.
“We urgently need something done before someone is killed.”
Benito Pascale, 74, has lived in Fiddlers Hamlet since 1967.
He said: “It's always been bad but it has got worse recently. A lot of it is people on their mobiles and people speeding. Since I've lived here they've been hundreds of crashes outside my house, maybe more than that.”
Bob Millar, 53, added: “I'd be flabbergasted if anyone in the village didn't support the campaign for traffic calming. This is a little village but the speed limit is 60mph. It doesn't make sense. It should really be something more like 30mph.
“About four or five times a day we hear the sound of screeching breaks.”
Essex County Council is yet to comment.
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