NORTH Yorkshire Police's traffic chief has called for a partnership between police and drivers to push road casualties down still further.

"As we go into autumn I want everyone to do their utmost to slash the number of accidents on our roads," said Superintendent Martin Deacon, head of road policing. "We have achieved a great deal already this year, but now I want to keep up the momentum right through the difficult driving conditions of autumn and winter."

Deaths on the county's roads have been slashed. In the last 12 months 65 people have died on North Yorkshire's 6,000 miles of roads, against 88 killed in the previous 12 months.

The most spectacular drop is in motorcycle fatalities - 13 riders have died so far this year, exactly half the total at this point in 2003.

Craven is a particular blackspot for such accidents.

Since April 1, the number of riders, drivers and pedestrians killed or seriously injured on the county's roads has been cut from 506 to 437 - a reduction of 13.6 per cent.

The most visible sign of the new hard-line approach is the summer-long speed campaign. With the help of the county council, road policing officers have mounted a series of operations involving extra patrols and speed checks right across the county and beyond.

This operation has concentrated particularly on reducing motorcyclist casualties, but a large number of car drivers have fallen foul of one particularly effective aspect - fast-tracking.

This programme aims at "extreme speeders"- those caught exceeding a speed limit by 30mph or more. They can find themselves before a court within days, with a high risk of losing their driving licence.

So far 324 extreme speeders are either in the legal system or have already been dealt with. 46 of them are motorcyclists. 36 drivers and 14 riders have lost their licences so far.

Supt Deacon said: "We have taken a tough line against speeders and those who ride and drive dangerously in other ways and I make no apologies. The bottom line is that because of us there are people alive today who would otherwise be dead.

Supt Deacon added part of the road policing group's success lay with North Yorkshire's policies on speed enforcement technology.

He explained: "Instead of the fixed speed cameras used by some forces we get more effective results from a policy of taking the speed traps to where they are needed. The mass issuing of tickets is not the answer; target policing is."