Residents are hoping Kent County Council might pay more attention to their requests for a speed reduction after a crash on a rural road that resulted in an elderly man being taken to hospital.

The driver was trapped in his vehicle and had to be cut out by firefighters after a collision with a car travelling in the opposite direction along Lower Road, West Farleigh, close to the junction with Kettle Lane.

Locals have been pressing for some years for a reduction on the speed limit on the road, the B2010, which many use as a way of by-passing the town centre.

West Farleigh parish chairman Bruce Scott said: “We would like to see the speed limit reduced from 50 to 30mph, as it is through East Farleigh.

“There have been a number of accidents, with motorists going into a low road just along from there, but unless there is an injury they don’t show up on the official statistics.”

Coxheath and Hunton borough councillor Brian Mortimer (Lib Dem) said: “People have been concerned about speeding on this road ever since I’ve been a councillor - that’s 18 years. This is a very fast road.

“But in the past, KCC has always said it couldn’t do anything because there was actually no history of accidents here. Now perhaps it will.”

The current speed limit is 50mph, but the road takes a sweeping bend at this point just before a blind corner and vehicles often stray over the centre line.

Mr Scott said: “There is another very dodgy corner on Lower Road as it approaches the junction with Teston Lane.

“50mph is much too fast, but again nothing gets done. One argument that KCC has used in the past is that there are not enough houses along the road to justify a lower limit, but we are a rural community.”

Residents have started taking a petition door-to-door with the aim of presenting it to KCC.