A national week-long campaign has launched today as it is revealed one in every 100 people involved in a collision on the county's roads last year died.

Data has shown there were 44 fatalities on the county's roads last year and 753 people were seriously injured, according to a report by Kent County Council.

There were a total of 4,427 people involved in collisions on the roads last year, meaning around one in 100 people died from being in a crash in the county.

Combined, the figures show nearly one in five (18%) of those involved in a crash in Kent last year was either killed or seriously injured.

Nationally the Office for National Statistics estimates there were 27,130 people killed or seriously injured in the year ending June 2017.

It has led to calls from fire, police and highways bosses in the county for drivers to 'speed down'.

From today emergency workers will be out with representatives from Highways England to hold events to tell road users how to improve the safety of the roads.

Today they will be at Clackett Lane services on the M25 from 10am until 3pm. They will also be at Medway services on the M2 tomorrow at the same time.

"The contributing factor has been that the driver has been driving too fast. Speed kills" - Director of operations at Kent Fire and Rescue Service, Sean Bone-Knell

On Wednesday, November 22, the team is going to be at the Marlowe Arcade, Canterbury, Thursday, November 23, will see them arrive at Folkestone services on the M20 and Maidstone services on the M20 on Friday, November 24.

Drivers will be offered advice on how to keep their speed down and deal with unexpected events like a child crossing between parked cars.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service's director of operations, Sean Bone-Knell, said: "It’s important that drivers and their passengers understand the impact that speeding can have.

"Travelling at excess speed could be the difference between a safe journey and one that ends in tragedy.

"All too often our firefighters attend road crashes where the contributing factor has been that the driver has been driving too fast. Speed kills."

Community engagement manager at the road safety charity Brake, Dave Nichols, said: "We all live busy lives and there is a temptation to speed up in the hope of saving time, where in fact we could be costing lives.

"That is why we are encouraging everyone to raise awareness about the important message of ‘Speed Down Save Lives’ for Road Safety Week 2017."