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Motorcyclists are among the most vulnerable vehicles that use the roads. If a car and a bike are involved in a collision, 99 times out of 100, the bike along with the rider come off worse.

Gerard Murphy is just one of thousands of bikers that have been in a crash with a car. Fortunately he is still alive and luckier still to be still riding. He describes how the crash has changed his approach to biking on the road.

Gerard says: “I still use my bike on the roads but not as much as I did before the crash. It has affected me that way.

“When I was younger and had just started biking I often went fast and raced on the roads. It was dangerous back then, but nowadays with the higher volume of traffic it would be suicidal.”

Gerard or ‘Gerry’ as he likes to be called has been biking for 18 years. His first bike was a Kawasaki ZZR600. He currently owns a BMW R1150GS and a Suzuki GSR600 track bike.

Gerry had his crash back in March 1995. He was on a dual carriageway when a car coming down the right hand filter lane jumped the red light and turned into his bike. Gerry came off at around 35mph, somersaulted and landed on the ground. His injuries included a broken wrist, thigh, compound fracture of the fibula and fractures in the foot and ankle.

As a result of his injuries Gerry’s leg had to be amputated in February 1996. He now has one made from titanium and carbon fibre.

Gerry talks about his bad experience afterwards: “It took them about year trying to fix my leg. I had 3 months in hospital where I had muscle and skin grafts, a metal plate in my wrist and a steel rod in the thigh bone. Its no surprise now that I’m always setting the airport security off, I’ve got enough metal in my body to be Robocop in disguise!”

Despite the crash, Gerry has not once thought about giving up biking although he has taken precautions to ensure he isn’t in another crash on the road.

Gerry says: “Surprisingly the accident didn’t put me off biking at all but it took 2 years before I was able to ride again. To improve my bike skills on the road, 2 years ago I decided to partake in an IAM (Institute of advanced motorists) motorcycling course. I learned a lot and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to enhance their motorcycling skills no matter how experienced they think they are.”

Gerry admits to having cut down on the amount of time he rides on the road. Instead he goes on track days as it is safer than the ever changing road. He has been to most of the bike circuits in the UK including Brands Hatch and Silverstone. He says: “I book all of the days at the start of the Summer and I go to a track day every 3 to 4 weeks. Each one lasts a whole day and is split into 20 minute sessions. I’d definitely recommend it for adrenaline junkies looking for a fix.”