THE death of a young motorcyclist on a dangerous stretch of road has added fresh impetus to calls for a cut in the speed limit.

Twenty-eight-year-old Sascha Brand was killed in a rush-hour crash in the 40mph zone in High Road, Thornwood, when his Honda collided with a taxi.

Mr Brand was pronounced dead at the scene while the 46-year-old taxi driver was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital suffering from shock.

Pete Andrews, 47, lives just yards from the scene near the junction with Upland Road.

He said: “The traffic was stationary going into Epping.

“The lad was going on the outside on his bike as the taxi was coming in the other direction. It looks like he lost control on the cats eyes.

“He was laying in the middle of the road about 15 to 20ft past his bike, and his crash helmet was about 15ft past that.

“I heard the crash and I thought ‘oh, here we go’ because we’re so used to crashes along here. We’ve had at least nine in the last eight years that I’ve lived here.

“A while back I had a car written off with me in it as I was waiting to get on to my drive.

“I wrote to my local MP to get it down to 30mph. But apparently you’ve got to have 800 metres of continuous housing.”

Councillor Cyril Hawkins, the chairman of North Weald Parish Council, also lives in the road.

Cllr Hawkins, 69, said: “We’ve campaigned for 30mph limit but we’ve never been able to get one.

“The village would certainly appreciate it. It’s a shame that it has to come to this before something gets done.

“At least 15 years ago a little girl was killed up the road, so they put an island in there and maybe they should put one in up here.”

Mr Brand, who was originally from Queensland in Australia, was living with relatives in Harlow, and friends of his have launched a Facebook appeal for money to get his body back to Australia.

A spokesman for Essex County Council said: “We were sorry to hear of this tragic incident, and our thoughts are with the family of the victim of this time.

“As with any fatal accident, Essex County Council will be carrying out a full investigation to see if there are areas where road safety needs to be improved, and these will be implemented if necessary.

“It would not be appropriate for us to comment further until we have received the police report about this incident.”

Anyone who saw the accident should call PC Sue Keel at Essex Police’s road policing unit at Chigwell on 0300 333 4444.