Coroner and bike star urge safety

Their grim message was delivered after six bikers lost their lives on North Yorkshire roads so far this year – compared with seven fatalities during the whole of last year.

And with hundreds preparing to head out onto the region’s roads over the next three days, coroner Geoff Fell said errors of judgement on a bike can be fatal.

He was joined by British Supersport Championship rider Dennis Hobbs, from Guisborough, in east Cleveland, who survived a horror crash at Croft Circuit, near Darlington, in 2004.

The 26-year-old, who now lives in Scotland, said: “It was a bad accident. I broke my neck, but luckily there were paramedics nearby who could help me.

“On the track, marshalls wave yellow flags if there’s oil on the road or debris on the track.

“But on the open road, it’s up to you to spot the hazards, judge bends and react in time.

You can crash in the middle of nowhere and it can be a long time before help gets to you.

“I’ve learnt through years of experience how to read a track, and the same skills can be used on a road, which is far more likely to change.”

Mr Fell, coroner for the western district of North Yorkshire, said: “I have only had two road traffic deaths which could truly be described as unavoidable – the rest were all avoidable.

“I regularly see the consequences of these fatal collisions as I see the wives of the deceased and the children at the inquests.

He added that in many cases the riders were not speeding and knew the roads, but, on occasions, errors of judgement sadly had fatal consequences.

Over the past decade, 148 people have been killed and 1,229 seriously injured in motorbike crashes in North Yorkshire.

In County Durham and Darlington, police recorded eight motorcyclist deaths in 2006, seven in 2007 and two last year.

The men spoke out at the request of the 95 Alive York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership, made up of local councils and emergency services.