A KEY road linking industrial Lancashire to the Yorkshire Dales is the most dangerous in Britain, according to a survey carried out by European Union scientists. And the third most dangerous runs from the M6 in Cumbria to Kirkby Lonsdale, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

It has been worrying police in North Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria for years but their efforts are often ignored

John Sheard - countryside commentator

According to a report published today (Monday) by the European Road Assessment Programme, the A682 from Colne, in East Lancs, to Long Preston in the Dales has a death rate the equivalent of five major rail crashes every ten years.

Says Dr Joanne Hill, who led the research: "The A682 fails on every collision type - junction and access road crashes, collisions with rigid roadside objects, overtaking crashes, pedestrian and cyclist collisions and motorcycle crashes."

Local residents have absolutely no doubt about the major cause of fatal accidents: powerful motor cycles being raced to Devil's Bridge in Kirkby Lonsdale, where hundreds of mainly middle-aged bikers meet at weekends.

The same applies to the third most dangerous road, the A683, from Junction 34 on the M6 to Kirkby Lonsdale.

Out countryside commentator John Sheard, who travels extensively on both roads and the A65 comments: "There is this strange phenomenon of middle aged men trying to recreate their youth by buying very fast, very expensive motorbikes and using these roads as a racetrack to Devil's Bridge.

"It has been worrying police in North Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria for years but their efforts are often ignored. In the summer time, when you have hundreds of caravans on these holiday routes mixing with fast motorbikes and slow tractors as farmers go about their daily routine, you have a recipe for disaster."