MID Devon had double the amount of road deaths last year compared to the rest of the county.

Figures released by Devon County Council this week showed there were 10 fatal collisions in the Mid Devon area, with 11 people dying.

The next highest areas were Teignbridge and Torridge were five people died in collisions.

Devon as a whole saw the number of road death drop by 20% from 46 to 36 last year, but the county council says this is still too high.

Executive member for environment, Cllr Margaret Rogers, said: "While some comfort can be taken from the 20% reduction in fatalities compared with 2005, all the agencies that have a role in road safety need to consider what else can reasonably be done to bring this toll down in future years."

Road safety officer Peter Gimber said: "The lessons to be learned from the fatal collisions are being examined by the county council's collision investigators and the police.

"They look at which collisions might have resulted from errors of judgement by road users, from high risk driving, or were contributed to by external factors including weather conditions of vehicle defects.

"From initial analysis of 2006 fatalities it seems the single most frequent problem involved drivers or motorcyclists losing control while negotiating bends.

"In many cases this involved excessive speed, but we will wait for more detailed reports that may show if alcohol, drugs, a medical condition or fatigue also played a part."