chunter@thekmgroup.co.uk

A head-on crash has brought renewed calls for traffic calming at an accident blackspot.

The accident happened just after 7.30am this morning when a car swerved to avoid a lorry parked on a bend in St Leonard's Street, West Malling, and moved into the path of oncoming traffic.

One car coming in the opposite direction - towards Kings Hill - was shunted back into following vehicles, and a further three cars were involved in a secondary, related collision.

Two ambulances attended but only one person was treated at the scene for whiplash injuries.

The road was closed for an hour while the cars were recovered and fuel cleaned up.

St Leonard's Street resident Keith Bullard said those involved were lucky to escape with relatively minor injuries.

"It's a busy stretch of road and a blackspot," he said. "It could have been much more serious."

Also a member of West Malling Parish Council, Mr Bullard has sat on the Joint Parish Councils Transport Committee and believes further action is needed to improve safety.

Most problems result from cars driving too fast downhill toward West Malling, then encountering the bend on a narrowing stretch of the road.

"We're looking at bringing in the Speed Watch scheme again" added Mr Bullard, "There are slow signs on the road but they're quite weathered. Even if they were in red ink I don't think they would do any good.

"We had a meeting at the end of last year and we'll keep trying to get things done."

A previous campaign resulted in the speed limit being lowered from 40mph to 30mph, but residents had hoped further steps would be taken.