Police.

POLICE in Huntingdonshire are using unmarked motorcycles to target roads in the district known to be popular with riders of high-performance machines.

POLICE in Huntingdonshire are using unmarked motorcycles to target roads in the district known to be popular with riders of high-performance machines.

Several roads in west Huntingdonshire, including the B660, B645 and B1090 between Sawtry and St Ives are used extensively by motorcyclists, often to the annoyance and consternation of residents.

Now police bikes fitted with video cameras are being used by police to enforce road traffic law and persuade riders to use the roads safely – before they kill themselves.

“We have invested in some plain motorcycles to get out there to enforce and deal with offenders in just the same way as we do with cars,” police rider PC Simon Burgin told The Hunts Post.

“It’s a matter of education as much as enforcement. The majority of motorcyclists who are killed or seriously injured are in single-vehicle collisions – though, of course, they are not always at fault.”

Roads such as those patrolled by Cambridgeshire Police in included in biker magazines’ ‘roads to ride’, PC Burgin said.

“They are the type of roads motorcyclists like to enjoy – until their enthusiasm goes beyond their ability.”

The B1090 near Woodwalton is one of those that generates a steady stream of complaints from neighbours, PC Burgin admitted, although the most recent accident he had attended there, last week, after which a motorcyclist was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, had involved a collision with a car.

Resident Jan Mitman told The Hunts Post: “Local residents have been complaining to the police for a long time about motorcycles using Woodwalton Lane as a race track.

“The motor cycles regularly break the speed records and are causing danger to other road users as groups of them use the road for publicity purposes.

“Photographers are regularly seen at the spot where the latest crash took place, taking stills and videos of the cyclists. It is believed that some of the cyclists are motoring at 100 mph or above.

“They use the road particularly at weekends and on Tuesday evenings, when one of the local clubs has a meeting.”

Motorcyclists are one of two classes of road user being targeted by police for lack of safety. The other group is lorry drivers, who fail to leave sufficient distance from the vehicle in front, who collide with the back of other traffic for lack of attention or who take so long to pass other lorries that they are prosecuted for inconsiderate driving.

“All our vehicles are now fitted with video-cameras, so the evidence speaks for itself,” said PC Burgin.