Kent's roads are the most dangerous in England, according to the latest figures.

There were 4,427 reported collisions in the county last year, data from the Department for Transport shows.

Of those, 44 led to fatalities, 753 were serious incidents, and another 3,630 involved slight injuries.

The largest contributory factor for accidents on the county's roads in 2016, excluding Medway, was the driver or rider not "looking properly" with 1,081 incidents blamed on this.

Motorists not judging another person's path or speed was a factor in 633 crashes, loss of control accounted for 447, poor turns and manoeuvres in 355 others and slippery roads accounted for 313.

A driver or rider being careless, reckless or in a hurry contributed to 298 incidents, sudden braking had a part to play in 246 and travelling to fast for the road conditions caused 191 crashes.

Meanwhile, people who followed too closely caused 162 crashes.

The data also shows the most crashes in the year happened in Medway with 619 reported collisions leading to a personal injury claim.

Then it's Maidstone with 498 reported in the area, Thanet with 437, Tonbridge and Malling with 433 and Dartford with 425.

Followed by Sevenoaks with 365, Swale had 363, Gravesham had 345, Canterbury with 337 and Shepway had 324.

This is finished up by Ashford having 318 collisions that led to a personal injury claim, Dover with 317 and Tunbridge Wells with 265.

Casualty reduction manager at Kent Road Safety, Steve Horton, said: "It's a massive concern for all of us whenever someone is killed on Kent's roads.

"We're well aware that Kent is one of the largest counties in the country.

"We're well aware that we're always at the top of the table and that's a concern for us and something we're well aware of unfortunately.

"We know in some of our districts further north we get most people injured in those districts don't live in Kent.

"But we're such a diverse county that when we head to somewhere like Thanet we find most of the people injured there are from there."

Mr Horton added his team try to educate drivers before incidents on the roads happen.

"We're well aware that Kent is one of the largest counties in the country" - Steve Horton

"We spend most of our time talking to motorists and making sure we keep vulnerable road users, like pedestrians, safe," Mr Horton said.

"I think acting sensibly is critical. At the heart of that is finding out why drivers (who are involved in accidents) are driving in the way they do in the first place."

In Medway there were 619 total collisions with three of them leading to fatalities, 78 played a part in serious injuries and 538 caused slight injuries.

President of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, Brett Dixon, said: "Nobody wants to spend Christmas in hospital or injured, especially when it is something that could be avoided.

"As millions of people take to the roads to see family and friends, drivers really must be even more aware of the need to address dangerous habits to avoid needless collisions, injuries and subsequent insurance claims.

"The UK has some of the busiest roads in Europe with 50% more traffic than the European average."