MOTORCYCLISTS and road safety chiefs are set to meet in an effort to tackle rising road deaths in the region.

The meeting will bring together campaigners and biking enthusiasts in a bid to hammer home the road safety message.

Meanwhile, police in Ryedale are using shock tactics to encourage speeding motorists to slow down.

Drivers caught speeding are being offered a harsh insight into the brutal results of fatal road accidents instead of being fined.

Both Operation Siren and the meeting, organised by Malton, Norton and District Road Safety Partnership, come after two more road deaths at the weekend.

The two accidents, one on the A169 Pickering to Whitby road, near RAF Fylingdales, and the other on the A171, near Scarborough, have pushed the number of motorcycle fatalities on North Yorkshire roads this year up to 18. The figure represents the highest number of motorcycle deaths since 1996 - last year there were 13.

"We are appealing to motorcycle enthusiasts, traffic police and the proprietors of motorcycle shops to come to the meeting and talk with us," said Cyril Shreave, chairman of the road safety committee.

Operation Siren was launched at the weekend as the first of three similar campaigns, explained Sgt. John Clayton, from North Yorkshire's Road Policing Group.

"The idea is that motorists who are pulled over for speeding are given the option of either receiving a fine and three penalty points, or attending a lecture," he said.

The Malton, Norton and District Road Safety Committee meeting will be held at Norton Town Council headquarters, in Commercial Street, on Wednesday, August 7, at 7.15pm.

- The motorcyclist who died after the crash near RAF Fylingdales has been named by police. Steven Phillimore, 44, from Halifax, was killed when he failed to negotiate a bend on the A169 Whitby to Pickering road on Sunday.

Updated: 11:42 Tuesday, July 30, 2002