An increase in motorcycles has led to a remorseless rise in death and destruction on North Yorkshire roads. But who is to blame? Steve Parsley discovers that it depends on who you speak to.

A SUNNY day in summer is bound to bring out the bikers - but alarming statistics indicate that, despite innovative police initiatives to curb the number of fatalities, a growing number may not return home.

Powerful machines capable of speeds of over 180mph are available at prices well below what you would pay for a family car - and they are proving ever more attractive to those who have a little disposable income to invest in a hobby.

Concerned then about the number of young deaths, the Government tinkered with the law in the 1980s to make motorbikes with bigger engines less attainable for teenagers.

Perhaps as a result, it is now the 30 and 40-year-olds who are dying on the roads.

Not all of the accidents in North Yorkshire's eastern police division so far this year have been speed-related, and not all those who have lost their lives could be classed as so-called "born-again bikers".

Nonetheless, they are the category deemed to be most vulnerable, along with those who seem unable to curb their need for speed.

"Most bikers I deal with are responsible and positive," said Traffic Constable Richard Hammond, who was patrolling the roads on the North York Moors yesterday.

"However, there is always going to be a hooligan element, who thrash up and down country roads, showing a blatant disregard for the law - and it is them we are now trying to target."

However, even careful riders face risks.

Alan Bowman was riding along the A169 Pickering to Whitby road on his beloved Yamaha earlier this month when he was in collision with a bike coming the other way.

His wife Lily, who lives in Darlington, said he was a considerate rider who had been riding for more than 40 years.

"The only consolation we have is that he died doing the thing he loved most," she said.

Statistics show a boom in motorcycle sales during the past six years - but none of the bikers meeting in the market place at Helmsley, North Yorkshire, yesterday classed themselves as "born-again".

Neither were they the rogue riders who go "scraping" around country roads in the area, scuffing metal knee protectors on the road as they lean into tight corners.

However, the majority felt that the death toll among their number is unlikely to be reduced until stricter rules are introduced for the inexperienced riders - and car drivers are forced to take bike awareness more seriously.

"A lot of people are buying bikes as fashion items," admitted John Anderson, from Jarrow, South Tyneside.

"However, it is not always the biker who is to blame for an accident - there ought to be a better training programme for car drivers."

Others, who preferred not to give their names, said they embraced motorcycling knowing the risks, although the growing amount of traffic on the road and the sheer power of some of the racing-bred machines - which are readily available to anyone with the cash - were other reasons bikers gave for the number of fatalities.

Whatever the problems on the roads, most people who live in the area seem happy to have the riders around.

"By far the majority are no problem," said Beadlam resident Ernest Brown.

"There is an odd one who roars through the village but most slow down to 30mph, which is more than you can say for cars."

"They use the shops and it is not as though they go in the pubs, get drunk and start causing trouble," said David Wellard, who also lives in the village between Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside.

"Most of them are pleasant, responsible people and having them riding around isn't a problem.