THE head of road policing in North Yorkshire wants a partnership between the force and drivers to push road casualties down still further.

Supt Martin Deacon said: "As we go into autumn, I want everyone to do their utmost to slash the number of accidents on our roads. We have achieved a great deal already this year, but now I want to keep up the momentum during difficult driving conditions."

Deaths on the 6,000 miles of North Yorkshire roads have already been reduced. In the last 12 months, 65 people were killed, compared with 88 during the previous year. The most spectacular fall has been in motorcycle deaths, 13 so far this year - half the total at this point in 2003.

Eighty people attended the launch in Harrogate of a ten-year plan by the fire and rescue service to reduce deaths by closer working with other agencies including police.

Supt Deacon told them: "A new approach was needed. We sat down with county council road safety officers and agreed we must not have another year like 2003.

"We agreed we must continue with driver and rider education and keep on with road engineering schemes, but we were also after the real offenders, the people who are the root cause of so many accidents, speeders and those who bring anti-social behaviour to roads."

A speed campaign during the summer, supported by the county council, saw a series of operations involving extra patrols and checks across the county and neighbouring force boundaries. Traffic officers have spent an extra 1,493 hours patrolling the 16 routes with poor motorcycle safety records.

Though the operation concentrated on reducing rider casualties, many car drivers also fell foul of a "fast tracking" system aimed at extreme speeders exceeding a given limit by 30mph or more.

They can find themselves before a court within days, with a high risk of losing their licences. So far 324 extreme speeders, 46 of them motorcyclists, are either in the legal system or have been dealt with; 36 drivers and 14 motorcyclists have already been banned.

Supt Deacon said the fast tracking programme had demonstrated that motorcyclists were not being demonised but that the force dealt fairly with all transgressors.

He added: "We have taken a tough line against speeders and those who ride and drive dangerously in other ways, and I make no apologies. The bottom line is that because of us there are people alive today who would otherwise be dead."

Supt Deacon said he intended to keep up the pressure through wide-ranging programmes prepared with partner agencies for road policing during autumn and winter.

"Now is the time for all road users to commit to a safe, sensible style of driving. The weather is turning and roads will soon become treacherous.

"This is the perfect time to accept a duty of care towards all who share the roads with us."

Supt Deacon said that instead of the fixed cameras used by other forces, North Yorkshire took speed traps to where they were needed, such as schools which had identified a problem.

Motorcyclists planning to play boy racers would be targeted by a new device which can record a number plate.

Supt Deacon said area traffic groups would be expected to continue other successful safety operations aimed at driving near schools, school buses, caravans, lorries, seat belts, drink-driving and those who defied driving bans