Death trap?

The dead man, 30-year-old Grzegorz Romanek of St Margaret's Road, Evesham, suffered multiple injuries following the collision along Davies Road, near its junction with Forest Gate just after midnight on Monday. He was an agricultural worker living in the Vale for about six years. Mr Romanek was trapped in the car but died before being released. Norman Staite, whose property backs on to the road, was one of the first people on the scene.

Mr Staite, aged 58, said: "The impact of the crash was like someone dropping a bomb - the house actually shook, it was that bad. I put my clothes on as fast as I could because I thought I had to try and help. When I went out it was just one horrible scene - steam was rising up in the air.

"I'm really upset over it - seeing that man dead behind the wheel nearly finished me off.

"I couldn't get much sleep and when I tried, I could just hear cars racing past. I won't forget the image of that man."

Mr Staite claims this is the third serious accident to happen along the road since he moved to his house around 12 months ago. He fears the traffic calming scheme put in place in the mid-1990s will lead to more incidents. He said: "There is something wrong with that road and something needs to be done. I don't agree with the traffic calming - I think it's causing accidents. Something like this is going to happen again."

Davies Road resident Caroline Newbury supports the removal of the calming measures. She said: "On many occasions I have been faced with cars speeding towards me to beat me through the calmer when I have the right of way."

Dave Clee, highways safety officer at Worcestershire County Council, said: "We have never been 100 per cent happy with the traffic calming scheme's performance. We are at the moment considering taking one of the narrowings out nearest to the Cheltenham Road." A post mortem was carried out on the accident victim on Tuesday and will be followed by an inquest planned for today or tomorrow.