POLICE have warned middle-aged bikers to slow down ... or risk adding to Strathclyde's shocking road death toll.

POLICE have warned middle-aged bikers to slow down ... or risk adding to Strathclyde's shocking road death toll.

Many thrill-seeking men in their 40s and 50s are now buying high-performance machines.

But police say they are often unable to handle the power of modern bikes and don't allow for poor road conditions.

Traffic police have even coined a nickname, Bambis - Born-Again Middle-aged Bikers - for older men who can afford to buy such bikes.

In the Strathclyde force area the average age range of biker fatalities are those in their mid-40s.

A total of 64 people were killed in bike accidents in the force area between April 2004 and this March and, this year alone, there have already been three killed.

Also, 483 have been seriously hurt and another 587 slightly injured.

Of the 64 who died, all but three were men, with two of the three women being pillion passengers.

Superintendent Niven Rennie, Strathclyde's head of road policing, said: "As soon as the sun shines, a large number of men take their bikes onto the country roads in search of thrills and excitement.

"I recently drove into Argyll and saw hordes of them, overtaking on blind corners and just really going far too fast."

The A809 Glasgow to Drymen Stockiemuir Road is a bikers' favourite but it is a route which has seen many fatalities.

Supt Rennie said Scots forces have often targeted bikers in road-safety campaigns.

He added: "We're signing up to a campaign, Around the Corner, in which we'll meet bikers and chat about reducing their speed but they can be notoriously difficult to deal with."

Officers know of biking websites which list roads that attract fewer police and where bikers could get their speed up.

"That is a real matter of concern. The only way we can tackle this is to get more officers onto the roads," said Supt Rennie.

One recent incident involved a rider who was thrown from his bike and had his head jammed between a pole and a wall. Luckily, he survived.

Fraser Simpson, a partner in Scottish law firm Digby Brown and a specialist in personal injury law, is a spokesman for national road safety charity Brake.

He said "Bikers make up just 1% of road traffic but motorbike fatalities made up 13.83% of all fatal crashes across Strathclyde in 2008."

Steve Wykes, of Motorcycle Action Group Scotland, said: "Measures, such as Bike Safe, which improve riders' skills, help but awareness of bikes amongst other road-users and aspects of road engineering are also factors in improving safety.

MAGS is involved in a campaign to improve the level of grip that manhole covers - particularly hazardous to bikers - provide as they are particularly slippery when wet."