HIGH-SPEED bikers were urged to take more care yesterday after a string of crashes brought death and carnage to the region's roads.

Despite a campaign to cut the death toll among motorcyclists in North Yorkshire, two more died in crashes at the weekend.

The fatalities took the total so far this year to ten - only three less than in the whole of 2001 - and prompted police to warn that a harder line would be taken with dangerous bikers across the county.

In the latest accidents, 31-year-old Ian Barrie Forbes, of Ingleby Barwick, near Middlesbrough, died when his Yamaha crossed into the opposite lane and crashed head-on into a Mercedes, on Seamer Road, near Stokesley, on Sunday night.

Another biker, in his 40s, died in hospital on Friday night after losing control and crashing into a roundabout near a McDonalds restaurant on the A64 at Seamer, near Scarborough.

The Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors national parks attract large numbers of motorcyclists, but police say many "born-again" bikers could be out of their depth in returning to the pastime after several years.

Traffic Constable John Lumbard, of North Yorkshire Police, said hundreds of bikers had descended on the dales over the weekend.

"A total of 13 were dealt with for offences ranging from excessive speed and overtaking on double white lines to illegal registration plates and exhaust systems," he said.

North Yorkshire Police launched its Bike Safe campaign in 1997, following a massive boom in the sale of bikes with engines more than 900cc.

But, despite its success in warning middle-aged bikers, officers are still cracking down on younger sports bike riders who flout the law.

A spokesman for Durham Police said that, while there had been no fatal accidents involving motorcycles this year, the majority of bikers were known to head for the country roads of North Yorkshire.

Elsewhere, a taxi driver died in Scarborough after his Vauxhall Vectra crashed into a wall at Belvedere Hospital, at about 11.10pm on Sunday.

Six people were taken to hospital yesterday afternoon following a collision between a double-decker bus, travelling from Scarborough to Leeds, and a brewery lorry, near Tadcaster.

A three-car crash on the A169, just north of Malton, North Yorkshire, at about 10.45am on Saturday, also left five people needing hospital treatment.