A PRESSURE GROUP has demanded stringent new measures to clamp down on the "acute menace" of speeding motorcycles in the North York Moors National Park.

Bilsdale Against Noise and Danger (BAND) wants action to be taken by North Yorkshire Police and the highway authorities to counter the danger and environmental damage they say is posed by traffic on a 15-mile stretch of the B1257 between Helmsley and Stokesley, which runs through the national park.

It has criticised proposed new guidelines for setting rural speed limits, brought out by the Department for Transport.

Ken Braithwaite, chairman of BAND, has recommended that 50mph be the maximum speed limit on any road in a national park, and that fixed speed cameras be installed on the B1257.

"North Yorkshire - despite the misleading use of camera warning signs - has no fixed speed cameras," said Mr Braithwaite.

Mr Braithwaite said it was essential that people were involved in the consultation on setting speed limits and traffic calming measures for their area because they had valuable local knowledge.

He claimed that BAND's community campaign for reduced speed limits, fixed safety cameras and enhanced enforcement had the overwhelming backing of its local community - but had been largely ignored by the police and traffic authorities, despite being backed by councillors, MPs, and Yorkshire celebrities.

Andrew Timms, of the Yorkshire Motorcycle Action Group, said: "I don't think (reducing the speed limit) will do a blind bit of difference. The people who are injuring themselves on that road don't care whether they're breaking the speed limit by 10mph or 20mph."

Mr Timms said that a reduced limit might help sensible drivers who were unfamiliar with the demanding route.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: "As BAND knows, throughout the last year there were many extra hours of police patrols specifically on the stretch of road that they are concerned with. As they know, across the county the number of motorcycle fatalities has been radically cut because of the force's Operation Halter. Speed limits are not strictly a matter for the police, but one point we do make is that they have to be enforceable. It's got to be realistic."

He said the force believed that it was far more effective to dictate speed enforcement where there was a problem, or where there might be a problem, using "targeted policing" with speed guns.

Updated: 11:00 Wednesday, March 09, 2005