A MAN died yesterday after his motorcycle and a van collided in the Northern Isles.
The collision in Orkney was the third fatal crash involving bikers on north roads in just four days.
The victim, who is understood to be local to the islands, was travelling on the A961 Kirkwall-South Ronaldsay road on the famous World War II Churchill Barriers when the crash happened.
The road was closed to traffic at both ends of the causeways to allow emergency services to deal with the incident.
It is understood the motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.
A local man said the rider had been catapulted from his gold-coloured machine and landed on the concrete blocks that make up the four Churchill Barriers.
The collision happened on Number 2 barrier about 4.30pm.
The accident caused travel problems for motorists as the A961 is the only road serving that part of the islands and there is no possible diversion route.
Motorists trapped on either side of the police roadblocks faced having to find accommodation for the night in hotels, B&Bs or with friends as it was expected the road would be shut until at least midnight.
School buses had already gone across the causeways before the accident happened.
The additional delay in keeping the road closed was because police crash investigators had to drive north up the A9 from Inverness to Gills Bay and cross to Orkney on the catamaran ferry Pentalina.
The vessel was held back at the Caithness port to allow the police specialists to catch it.
Yesterday’s fatality happened just days after two men died in separate motorcycle crashes in the north.
Alexander Brown, 33, of Glasgow, died in a crash on Skye on Sunday morning.
He was travelling on the A87 Invermoriston-Uig road at Loch Ainort and was heading south when the accident happened.
His motorbike ended up in a burn on the opposite side of the road.
The following day, another biker was killed in a collision with a car on the A9 Inverness-Perth road at the House of Bruar junction.
Mervyn Taylor, 56, from Norfolk, was pronounced dead at the scene.
North police hosted an online forum on motorcycle safety earlier this week as part of a campaign to try to reduce the number of bike accidents, which soar in the summer months.
Dozens of people took part in the event, with questions about speed limits and motorcycle training courses.
Police also launched a safety campaign, Operation Zenith, targeting bikers who will be taking to the roads in the north this summer.
Inspector Neil Lumsden said the Highlands and islands division dealt with more crashes in which bikers were killed or seriously injured than any other division in Scotland.
Part of the new campaign involves police motorcyclists carrying out high-visibility patrols on the most popular routes for bikers.
They will also be speaking to motorcyclists.
The Churchill Barriers are causeways that link a series of islands. They were built to protect the Royal Navy fleet at anchor in Scapa Flow from German attack.