Police on their bikes for speed crackdown

UNDERCOVER police are taking to two wheels as part of a crackdown on speeding motorcyclists.

Lothian and Borders Police are to use unmarked motorcycles for the first time to trap speeding bikers in a bid to cut a growing number of road deaths.

The campaign has been launched as more bikers take advantage of the better weather to take to the roads.

Last year, nine motorcyclists were killed in the Lothians, compared with just four in 2001. Over the last three years there have been more than 800 motorbike crashes - 230 of which resulted in serious injuries.

The powerful undercover bikes will be fitted with speed detection devices and backed up by marked patrol cars.

Sergeant Graham Conner, of Lothian and Borders motorcycle section, said: "We are looking at going out on the roads that bikers use, targeting them with unmarked bikes, marked bikes and marked cars and looking for speeding and unsociable-type driving."

It is thought the rise in biker deaths is down to an increase in the number of people buying bikes. Police say speeding is a factor in most crashes involving motorcyclists. Over the Easter break, officers caught a biker riding at 121mph on the A701 in the Borders. The police are geared up for two busy weekends this summer which will see thousands of bikers converge on the force area.

July 3 and 4 sees the British Motorcycle Federation’s show take place in Kelso, followed by the British Superbiking Championships at Knockhill on July 17 and 18.

The campaign was today set to be launched on the A703 Peebles road, just outside Leadburn, and will run until September.

Sgt Conner added: "We want people to know that if they bike on our roads, the unmarked bikes will be operating. We are telling people they will behave or they will be prosecuted."

Motorcyclists account for a tiny proportion of traffic on UK roads, but are estimated to be involved in a fifth of all serious crashes.

A spokesman for Rospa, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said:

"We hope that a crackdown like this will persuade motorcyclists not to break the speed limit, but also remind other road users of the vulnerability of motorcyclists."

Supt Colin McNeill, head of Lothian and Borders traffic branch, said:

"The ultimate aim of campaigns such as this one is to reduce the number of motorcyclists who are injured on our roads."