Sir - Speaking as a 55-year-old motorcyclist, car driver and cyclist I would like to make a few comments about motorcyclists and the threat they apparently pose to others.

Bikers are vulnerable - the only protection against injury is their experience, skill and safety helmet, clothing, boots, gloves etc. The majority of bikers are well aware of their vulnerability but also like to enjoy their riding.

Better education would not go amiss, particularly the ability to determine the sharpness of a corner on the approach and teaching bikers that if you think you are going too fast into a corner, leaning over a bit more will probably get you round, whereas braking and "sitting up" won't.

A motorcycle has excellent acceleration because of the power-to-weight ratio, takes up a lot less road space than a car and has to be leant over in order to go round corners. Because of this, safe overtaking manoeuvres by a biker can appear dangerous to car drivers who have never been a biker. The fact is that bikers are far more at risk from four-wheeled vehicles than the other way round. I think that a principal problem in the way car drivers perceive bikers is to do with the competitive nature of many people and the fact that you will undoubtedly make better progress on a motorbike where overtaking is legal and possible.

Bikers break speed limits but are not alone. An interesting report in the D&S Times recently showed that a police crackdown on bikers speeding in Weardale over Easter netted a few but caught mostly local car drivers! Excessive speeding (without any other offence being committed) becomes dangerous driving on a motorbike.

A cause of fatalities which affects bikers more than other road-users is being unable to stop in the distance you can see to be clear, i.e. travelling too fast into blind corners, so that when the inevitable HGV or combine harvester strays onto your side of the road, evasive action is either difficult or impossible. Stopping is not usually an option and the consequence for a biker is almost always a long stay in hospital or a one-way visit to the mortuary (a biker from Wensleydale was killed on the A684 near his home last year when a tractor and trailer temporarily blocked the road and he couldn't stop in time).

As a matter of interest to readers, a large number of roads on Dartmoor have a blanket 40 mph limit - why can't this be applied to some of the more popular tourist roads in North Yorkshire and Durham? It would need policing however or the limits will just be ignored.

And why don't we import this idea from France - roads with bad fatal accident records have person-sized black plastic cutouts placed on the verge at the site of the fatalities, one for each fatality. Yes - it's ghoulish and distracting but it is a brilliant way of showing you where to take the most care.

NICK REES

Elmfield Road,

Hurworth.

Sir, As a regular user of the B1257 on both two and four wheels I read with interest and some sympathy the article and open letter on the issue of bikers in particular.

It is very true - I cannot deny it - that there is a strong hooligan element of bikers who are the scourge of the majority law abiding bikers. However to make such evocative statements as "destruction of peace and beauty in the park" and the "threat to wildlife" and lay this at the feet of the motorcyclist is totally unacceptable. What about the thousands of four-wheeled vehicles that transport the majority of visitors to the area.

Turning to the proposed enforcement of a 50mph limit, here we have the classic knee-jerk reaction to dealing with a minority impose it on everyone in order to catch the minority.

Come on people, not withstanding the high cost of setting this up and the impossible additional role for the police, do you really think that idiots doing your quote of 180mph with the current restriction of 60mph will give a second thought to the reduction you propose.

The only way to get rid of idiots to target them with points two to four including spot-checks on road tax and hound them and their Website boasts.

DAVID MARSDEN.

Rowland Keld,

Guisborough.

Limit speed

Sir, - As a mature pedal cyclist I have sympathy with the supporters of Bilsdale Against Noise and Danger Campaign (D&S April 30th).

There are motor cycling routes in the Yorkshire Dales as well as the North York Moors National Park best avoided on road safety grounds by vulnerable cyclists, horse riders and walkers during week ends and Bank Holidays.

Holiday motoring, cycling, horse riding and walking in the Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks is an altogether safer and more peaceful experience.

This has much to do with blanket 40mph speed limits, other than on dual carriageways, having been in place in these equally scenic parks for at least a decade.

If the political will existed here the same 40mph speed limits could have been in place long before problems reached current levels.

I am sure law-abiding people who love England's many beautiful national parks are increasingly voting with their cars, pedals and walking boots and taking their considerable spending power to parks maintaining a more peaceful and safer environment.

Turning to motor cycle noise on un-Tarmaced public roads, those in Somerset, Wiltshire, and Devon are regularly graded by machines and advertised as open to cars proceeding with care.

The off-road motorcycle brigade see little challenge in routes when Morris Minor picnickers get there too.

North Yorkshire's decades of no maintenance makes our un-Tarmaced roads the ultimate challenge and a magnet for off road motor cyclists and 4x4 drivers.

There was a time when routes like Black Hambleton could be negotiated by most saloon cars. With a little maintenance by North Yorkshire, perhaps carried out by volunteers, the problems we currently suffer would probably go away.

LEONARD SHEPHERD

Ellerclose Road,

Leyburn.

Free music

Sir, - We are a group of musicians - Daytripper - prepared to play for nothing at fundraising charity events.

Maybe it's a sign of the times, but people generally don't believe that we do it for free, but we do - we all like playing and are prepared to help any organisation raise funds for a good cause.

We specialise in Sixties and Seventies music and cover the Beatles, Stones, Creedance etc., and have all our own sound equipment and lights. So if you could help put the word round that we are happy to help, then we would be pleased.

MIKE CULLINGFORD

The Royd

Yarm.

It worked

Sir, - Craft Works!, the workshop for adults with learning disabilities, is pleased to announce that our plant sale and coffee morning, held last week at the Methodist church in Barnard Castle, made £319 for the Chernobyl Children's Teesdale Holiday Fund. We would like to thank everyone who supported us.

ANNE NOBLE

Workshop Manager

Craft Works