Driver injured in head-on crash
by Chris Hunter
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.
05/02/13
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