RESIDENTS living along Worcester Road, Evesham fear there will be more deaths unless improvements are carried out before it becomes part of the new A44.

They spoke out after a Birmingham woman died when the car she was travelling in flipped over and collided with another vehicle on the A4538 Worcester Road at 1.20pm last Sunday.

Elsie Rodgers, aged 88, from Harbourne, died when the maroon Ford Escort she was travelling in hit a road sign and grass verge before colliding with a red Peugeot 406 travelling the opposite way.

The drivers of both vehicles, who have not been named, were both treated for minor injuries, while the road was closed for three and a half hours.

Mrs Rodgers is the second person to have died in a road accident at Chadbury in less than two years. In January 2001, Evesham man David Meddings died when his car left the road and crashed into a pond.

County councillor Clive Holt has previously called for improvements to the Squires junction, which links with the road due to become the new A44 later this year.

He said: "To my knowledge, there have been four fatalities there in recent years. It is horrendous, absolutely awful and underlines the need for that road to be sorted out."

Hazel Hanlon, from Sankey Marine along the same road, had her front porch and wall demolished last year when a car went out of control and left the road.

She said the road had become an accident blackspot, adding:"We need a crash barrier along the length of the road. It is dangerous. If your car leaves the road on that particular stretch, you fly down the bank."

The crash happened about 20 yards from the bungalow of Mrs Heap, who has also called for the road to be improved.

Mrs Heap, who lives with her husband Stuart, said she wrote to the Wychavon Highways Partnership Unit after the crash which claimed Mr Meddings' life. She is now sending them another letter.

"We've been living here 20 years. We moved here because it was such a lovely quiet road, but now we seem to be living in an accident blackspot. We're constantly hearing the screeching of brakes."

Des Smith, highways engineering manager of the Wychavon Highways Partnership Unit, said the Chadbury to Twyford bypass had been in the pipeline for many years, but they had not yet received the estimated £4m funding needed to carry out the work.

"There will be drainage and resurfacing work at the Squires junction as well as improvements to ease the traffic flow," he added.