Statistics that show one road death every three days in Staffordshire and Derbyshire have prompted the Burton Mail to launch a drive to cut the figure.

Its Make Our Roads Safe campaign aims to encourage every reader think about how they can make themselves and others safer while travelling by road.

The paper carried new stories explaining how the local emergency services raised serious concerns about the number of crashes they attended.

Fire and ambulance chiefs were worried about spending more and more time at such incidents.

Area fire service commander Phil McFarlane said: "We believe that 99 per cent of all road crashes could be avoided."

Air ambulance manager Ian Clayton said: "Forty-eight per cent of our missions are now related to road crashes, a staggering number in comparison to the other incidents the service attends."

The Mail is running a five-day series of special investigations looking at the problem, its causes, and ways that people can improve their own safety.

The campaign will focus on the impact of such accidents for families of the victims and also from the persepective of emergency staff in their day to day work.

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