RESIDENTS who daily ‘dice with death’ are calling for change after years of fatalities, verbal abuse from speeding motorists and shunted vehicles.

Life as a pedestrian on the High Road in Thornwood is one spent walking a perilous high-wire, heavy goods vehicles and souped up hatchbacks racing regularly round the blind, 40mph bend past the narrow pavement.

Over the years many motorists have lost their lives on the stretch of road.

In January 2011, 28 year-old Sascha Brand died almost instantly when his motorcycle crashed, prompting an unsuccessful campaign to get the speed limit reduced.

On Tuesday a group of neighbours. sick of the constant crashes and tired of fearing for their children’s safety, came out in force to demand something be done.

“There have been nine reported fatalities on this road,” said Paula Richardson, who has started a petition calling for a lower speed limit and traffic calming measures.

“There’s is one speed camera there, that’s it, and the crossing is on a bend.

“It is not a road, it is a race track.”

Mrs Richardson’s fury about what she sees as lax safety provision is, like many of her neighbours, personal.

In 1991 her best-friend Natalie Moran, 12, was killed as she crossed the road.

“Her mum used to pick us up and take us to school,” she said.

“She was friends with a lot of people in the village. One day she decided to cross the road to see her friend and there was a car that was coming down too fast.

“Her shoe was found thirty metres up the road. Her mum moved out of the area after that.”

While most of their stories have a less tragic ending, every single person waving a placard and cheering when motorists beeped their support had a story to tell.

Andrew, Paula’s husband, has been screamed at while reversing onto his driveway.

Others have attempted to shunt his vehicle, yelled profanities at his wife and hammered on the couple’s house door after being made to wait for them to park.

Peter Andrews, a retired ambulance technician, said: “Back in 2006 a car crashed into mine.

“He didn’t see me indicating. I ended up in hospital with whiplash.

“Another time a car came round and pushed our car into the house.”

The frustration among those present was palpable on Tuesday and continues to grow.

As the years pass, the relatively minor accidents, such as a car that careened into a garden wall where children were playing, have stacked up along with the tragic major incidents.

And yet nothing has been done.

As of August last year Essex Highways had not scheduled any work for the road, and none were listed as a ‘possibility’.

An Essex Highways spokesperson said: “The Epping Forest Local Highways Panel has recently been contacted by the Essex County Councillor for the area about issues on High Road, Thornwood.

“The Panel will now consider how best to take this forward.”