Accidents rise with 'born -again' bikers.

Byline: BY AMY WELCH

MIDDLE aged men are pushing up the North West's death toll as they re-kindle the fast pace of their youths as "born again bikers".

More 40-something men are swapping executive cars for powerful motorbikes, and now the trend is reflected in the region's accident statistics.

In the last year, 659 motor cyclists have been killed or seriously injured on North West roads, with Merseyside the fatality blackspot.

In a bid to cut the grim casualty toll, a major safety campaign is being launched today at Cheshire's Oulton Park, where cars and bikes normally exceed the road speed limit in dramatic races.

Bikers are urged to "save racing for the track" by Think road safety campaign which aims to slash last year's shocking figures of nearly one motor cycle death per week across the North West.

Skilled riding is safe riding and in its second year's sponsorship of the British Superbike Championship, Think has already signed up hundreds of riders for the bike safe rider assessment.

Riders are invited to pit their wits against the best on the new bike simulator. However, few will reach the top speeds of up to 140 miles per hour of reigning champion John Reyonlds, who will be defending both his title and supporting the police as he throws his full support behind the safety campaign.

Road Safety Minister Dr Stephen Ladyman, a biker himself, said: "Sports bike riding is growing in popularity with many bikers riding for the sheer fun of it. But all too often it can have tragic consequences".

The Think! Campaign aims to make leisure riders aware of the risks involved and what they can do to reduce the dangers they face.' Cheshire police are to lead the national campaign due to the extent of the problem in the area and Cheshire County Council has allocated pounds 30,000 from the 2005/6 Local Safety Schemes budget to implement accident reduction measures which will improve road safety. John Ricketts, principal road safety officer for Cheshire County Council is a biker aware of the risks.

"Motorcycles represent one per cent of traffic, but account for 17% of fatalities," he said. "Compared with car drivers, bikers are 40 times more likely to be killed. Making a mistake is an expensive business.

"At best it can mean just bent metal and broken plastic, but at its worse it's shattered limbs and death. In fact, nationally over 580 bikers died last year and over 6,000 were seriously injured. Misery of this sort is too regular an occurrence.

' For tickets and more information about the British Superbike Championships, visit www.britishsuper bike.com. Additional road safety information and advice is available from www.think roadsafety.gov.uk and www.bikesafe.co.uk