TWO roads running through Craven have claimed the lives of 28 people in just five years.

The A59 was branded Britain's most dangerous road last year, but far more perilous is the A65 between Addingham and Ingleton.

Twenty-one people have died on the road since February 2000, with just seven deaths on the Craven stretch of the A59.

Dave McCabe, group manager for Craven's fire service, said the brigade dealt with far more road accidents than fires and it was distressing for his men to deal with the traumatic after-effects.

The statistics - which deal only with the two main roads - also show that almost half the victims are over 60 years old and Mr McCabe said that perhaps road safety campaigns could be targeted at organisations like parish councils, Age Concern and WIs.

"I am not pointing the finger at older drivers but the facts speak for themselves," said Mr McCabe.

"People's eyesight does deteriorate as they get older and a common factor in a lot of accidents is that they occur at road junctions and the driver does not see a car coming.

"Drivers should have their eyes tested regularly and it could be that this is a factor which is affecting the high incidence of fatalities in the older age group."

Mr McCabe added that the statistics shattered two myths about road deaths in the area.

The first was that the victims were not local and did not know the road well, the second was that the 17 to 25 year old age group was most likely to be the victim.

Campaigns have been run in the past to try to raise awareness of the perils of speed and dangerous driving.

In Operation Siren, motorists who were travelling fractionally over the speed limit have been stopped by the police and offered either a ticket or an illustrated talk from the ambulance and fire services showing the type of injuries and the damage to cars caused at various speeds.

"Those campaigns do have an effect, but we have to make more people aware of the dangers of these roads," said Mr McCabe. "The statistics are horrendous and we do need as a community to tackle the issue.

"Time after time we are picking broken bodies out of cars and it takes its toll on of you."

David Lindsay, county road safety officer for North Yorkshire County Council, said: "The A65, north of Skipton, is a trunk road managed by the Highways Agency, who are partners in '95 Alive', the new multi-agency partnership for North Yorkshire, which has as its prime objective reducing the number of people killed on roads in North Yorkshire and the City of York."

Mr Lindsay said detailed analysis of the circumstances of fatal crashes was fundamental to this work.

"We will be willing to talk to any representative group who can assist in reducing the toll of deaths on these and other roads.

"However, no matter what actions agencies are able to take individual road users are responsible for their own behaviour," he added.