Garda paralysed in bike crash in training plea

A garda who lost the use of his legs in a motorcycle accident today called for compulsory training to be introduced for bikers.

Colm Cullen, 51, said the lack of any scheme was leading to a waste of life on the roads.

“It’s totally needless. I’ve been there as a guard with a family who’ve lost a young person in a fatal accident. The young people that are gone, their presence is still felt but they cannot be spoken to.”

He said the low level of accidents in the highly-trained Garda motorcycle fleet showed the value of training courses for bikers.

“I’m only the second person in the history of the force to end up in a wheelchair. That’s not a good statistic for me but it’s a good statistic for the Gardaí.”

Training courses for bikers would alert them to potential dangers such as potholes and manhole covers, which can send bikes careering off the road in wet conditions.

“That’s what’s sadly lacking, is proper training. It is crucial to saving lives that we have compulsory training. It is imperative that somebody, the Government and all the different agencies involved, I don’t care who does it, it just has to be done,” said Mr Cullen.

Mr Cullen was driving on his bike to the Garda College in Templemore when he collided with a car which did a sudden u-turn on a country road outside Roscrea, 13 years ago.

He was thrown into a ditch and the force of the impact severed his spinal chord.

“I was airlifted from Nenagh Hospital to the Mater and they confirmed I was paralysed,” he said.

Mr Cullen, who is originally from Dublin but now living in Naas, County Kildare, said the crash had a major effect on his life.

“It’s like everything, good and bad, and things get better as you learn to adapt. But at the start, life was not good and it was just ’Why me?”’

He now works with the Garda Traffic Unit in Dublin Castle.