Kent Highways has assured villagers it will react to a series of accidents by the village green.

On Sunday, a car carrying three people shot out of Lamberhurst Road in Horsmonden into the path of a van being driven along Brenchley Road.

It is the sixth accident in exactly the same circumstances in the past 12 months.

A young woman, a passenger in the car, is still in hospital being monitored for a bleed on the brain.

KCC has been highly criticised by villagers for failing to take action after earlier crashes, but today, the cabinet member for highways, Cllr Mike Whiting (Con), said: “We are extremely concerned to hear about the recent spate of incidents around the crossroads in Horsmonden.

“Following discussions with the parish council we have already refreshed road markings and moved the stop sign further down the road.

“However, it is clear more needs to be done and we have agreed for further works to be carried out."

Cllr Whiting added: “This will include additional high-visibility signage and a high-friction road surface which will be a different colour from the main road.

“We expect this work to begin at the end of May and will require road closures. Because of diversion arrangements along the A21 with Highways England, this cannot start any earlier.

“We are also in discussions with various sat-nav companies to ensure their devices acknowledge the junction as our data shows this spate of crashes has only occurred within the last 12 months.

“The issues seem to be solely down to driver awareness – that is to say the junction itself is not a dangerous road.

“Horsmonden is in a conservation area and therefore we are working closely with the borough council on what further steps could be made within the legislation.

“However, we appreciate the problem and are committed to working towards the best engineering we can put in place to keep drivers and residents safe.”

The latest accident at 2.40am on Sunday involved a Renault Clio being driven by a 19-year-old man from Maidstone and 32-year-old Dave Cardoso, in a Peugeot Expert, who was just 500m from his home in Horsmonden.

Both men were breathalysed at the scene by police and found to be below the drink-drive limit.

Mr Cardoso said: "There was no warning, no moment of anticipation, just suddenly, Bang!"

"I shall change my route in future. I'm not driving past that crossroads again."

The crash was caught on Heath Stores' CCTV and the aftermath filmed by onlookers.

One of the outcomes of the crash is that a number of residents in the village have lost their phone lines. The Renault Clio landed on top of a BT Openreach phone cabinet, destroying it.

A spokesman for the company said today: "A number of residents have had their service affected in the area.

"Engineers have attended and will be replacing the shell of the cabinet and barring any unforeseen issues work will be completed by the end of this week. It’s regrettable when we suffer any kind of damage to the network, Openreach’s priority is always to restore services to those affected as quickly as we can, which is what is being done in this case.”