A ROADS policing chief has spoken out about biker deaths in the wake of a spate of motorcycle accidents in North and East Yorkshire.

Three motorcyclists, including a York man and a 16-year-old from near Full Sutton, have died since the start of August on the A166 near Stamford Bridge.

A motorcyclist was airlifted to hospital suffering from fractures after a crash on the B1257 north of Helmsley on Thursday evening and another survived uninjured after a crash on the A64 near Malton earlier the same evening.

Inspector Dave Barf said 13 bikers died on North Yorkshire’s roads last year and the number so far this year stood at six.

He said people might not always agree with the way the police enforced the rules of the road - "but if you saw what we see, you’d be in absolutely no doubt about why we do it".

He said none of the bikers killed this year had left their house thinking it would happen to them.

“None of them thought their loved ones would get that knock at the door just hours after they’d set off on a summer ride,” he said.

“Many of our officers, myself included, are keen bikers. So we know how great that buzz is when you find your flow on one of our many beautiful rural roads.

“We also know the risks. Bikers are more than 30 times more likely to die in a collision than car drivers. Motorcycles have no protection compared to cars so a minor error of judgement can have fatal consequences.

“So you’d think we’d be more cautious. But we still see overtakes on junctions and riders not managing to negotiate bends.”

He said lives were lost because of a split-second misjudgement of "millimetres and milliseconds, or one or two miles an hour too many".