THE heartbroken widow and daughter of a York motorcyclist who is among 16 bikers killed on North Yorkshire's roads this year, today backed an "enough is enough" call by emergency services chiefs.

Mary Stead and her daughter Rachel, 11, bravely spoke of their loss to lend their support to the hard-hitting campaign to cut the shocking number of motorbike deaths on the county's roads.

Police, fire and ambulance chiefs have united in an unprecedented move under the banner "enough is enough" in a bid to stop the carnage.

Paul Stead, 36, of Lilac Avenue, was killed when his 750cc Kawasaki machine was involved in a collision with a Volkswagen Polo at the Towthorpe junction on the A64 Malton Road, on April 15. Since January 1 this year, 16 motorcyclists have been killed - more than in the whole of 2001- 85 seriously injured and a further 91 hurt as a result of road accidents in the county.

North Yorkshire Police spokesman Ron Johnson said: "All three services acknowledge that it is their professional responsibility to respond and deal with all accidents, but the sequence of calls to crashes, rescues, dashes to hospital and visits to the mortuary are happening with such regularity that senior officers are desperate to call a halt.

"The appeal for sensible riding and driving, cuts in speeding and greater awareness on the roads will target not only riders and drivers, but also husbands, wives, parents and children to urge them to urge their loved ones to take extra care and avoid becoming for us, yet another statistic, but for them a personal tragedy. Our message is simple - enough is enough."

Chiefs of the three emergency services were due to speak about the shocking death toll at a press conference at North Yorkshire Police headquarters, at Newby Wiske, Northallerton, today.

Deputy Chief Constable Peter Walker and Colin Chadfield, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service's area director for the Eastern Area, which has seen the worst of the accidents, along with representatives from Tees East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service, were expected to speak before Mrs Stead and her daughter.

The Evening Press has been playing its part in the campaign to cut the number of motorcycle deaths by highlighting the issues involved.

tony.tierney@ycp.co.uk

Updated: 12:12 Thursday, July 25, 2002