Safety crackdown launch aimed at hard core of rogue bikers

North Yorkshire Police is teaming up with seven other forces across the North of England in the first formal agreement of its kind to prevent the number of fatal bike crashes increasing.

Thousands of bikers are expected to descend on North Yorkshire over the Easter weekend, which is traditionally seen as the start of the annual motorcycling season.

The county’s road network, which covers 5,000 miles and criss-crosses stunning countryside including the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors, is a huge draw for bikers from across the nation.

But there has been seen a rising number of biker fatalities in North Yorkshire in recent years, leading to the major road safety operation being announced today.

There were 20 deaths in North Yorkshire in 2010 and while there have been only two fatalities this year, the number is expected to escalate significantly with the arrival of the main motorbike season.

As many as 60 police officers will be out on patrol each day of the Easter weekend with colleagues drafted in from Durham, Cleveland, Cumbria and Lincolnshire as well as Yorkshire’s three other forces.

North Yorkshire Police’s head of strategic roads policing, Inspector Dave Brown, admitted that a “hard core” of motorcyclists are continuing to ignore safety warnings and flout speed limits.

He confirmed that he had caught one biker travelling at 165mph on the A19 near Selby, while other motorcyclists are often reaching speeds of up to 100mph on rural routes in the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors.

Insp Brown said: “We are trying to educate as many bikers as possible about how to ride safely and not to put their lives or other road users at risk.

“But there continues to be a hard core of motorcyclists who will simply not change their opinions. These people do not believe in education, and the only language they understand unfortunately is enforcement and the threat of prosecution.”

Research has revealed that bikers are travelling from across the North of England and as far afield as the Midlands to regularly spend weekends riding in North Yorkshire.

A guide for bikers has now been produced to pinpoint some of the county’s worst accident blackspots, as well as providing tips on riding safely and motorcycle maintenance.

Roadshows are being organised to encourage bikers to improve their riding skills, and a DVD featuring road safety advice will be handed out free of charge.

But senior police officers have stressed that the main emphasis of the new road safety campaign will be to target speeding motorcyclists.

Police officers will use unmarked motorcycles while out on patrol to gather evidence of dangerous and anti-social riding.

Insp Brown said: “There will be no escape for those who choose to break the law. We are not out to persecute all bikers, far from it.

“Many police officers are recreational riders and fully understand why North Yorkshire is a magnet for bikers. However, we will not tolerate the dangerous minority who risk their own and others lives.”

Last year, 18 motorcyclists and two pillion passengers died on North Yorkshire’s roads – with about three quarters of the fatalities blamed on rider error.

The number of fatalities rose from 12 in 2008 to 15 in 2009, although a road safety campaign, dubbed 95 Alive, has kept figures below a recent peak of 28 deaths in 2003.

The campaign, which was established to prevent 95 fatalities on North Yorkshire’s roads, involves police and other agencies including councils and health trusts and has seen an estimated 126 lives saved since 2005.