POLICE have admitted they are beginning to dread sunny summer days because so many bikers are losing their lives in accidents across the county.

Fatalities on a country lane near Boroughbridge and on the A661 near Spofforth on the same evening last week take the total among bikers in North Yorkshire to 20 so far this year.

Police spokesman Tony Lidgate said: "It is getting to the stage where officers look up at the sky in the morning and, if it's clear, resign themselves to the likelihood that they will be dealing with another death.

"We are not saying the motorcyclists are always to blame; everyone out on the roads needs to have the mentality that it is better to look out for each other. But what we must also remember is that each death is a horrible tragedy.

"It represents the destruction of a family, disruption to perhaps dozens of lives - and then there are others who may have been involved. They may have survived but they may have to live with the physical or mental scars of an accident for the rest of their lives."

It was the growing number of injuries and accidents among motorcyclists which prompted North Yorkshire Police to pioneer the Bike Safe scheme in the mid Nineties - since adopted as best practice around the UK.

The family of one biker killed in a collision on the North York Moors recently urged others to take advantage of instruction the project offers in the hope of saving more lives.

However, police say that the two deaths, both on Wednesday evening, will harden the resolve of officers on patrol who have been urged to take a tougher line with those who flout the rules of the road.

"We enjoy a reputation as the founders of the Bike Safe project - but North Yorkshire is also gaining a reputation as a county where it is not a good idea to break the speed limit," said Mr Lidgate.

"Officers on patrol will be vigilant because they know what it is like to have to knock on a stranger's door and tell them they have become a widow."