A57 Motorbike accident appeal for witness. The accident took place on the A57 near Sheffield at 16.05hrs on 13/06/2007.

South Yorks police appeal for info on A57 crash
A57 horror smash leaves Yamaha rider disabled
Posted: 23 July 2007

by Visordown News

POLICE have today renewed their appeal for witnesses to a serious road traffic collision in which a motorcyclist suffered serious injuries.

Mr Gordon Swift of Dinnington was travelling along the A57 on his Yamaha motorcycle when he was in collision with a Ford Fiesta car that was travelling in the opposite direction.

It is reported that a green Ford Fiesta car was travelling from the Todwick Cross Roads direction towards the Motorway. Mr Swift was travelling in the opposite direction and was followed by a white LDV van.

As the ford Fiesta travels round a sweeping left-hand bend the driver appears to lose control of the car and crosses on to the opposite side of the road, colliding first with the motorcycle and then with the van. Both the Fiesta and the motorcycle leave the carriageway.

Mr Swift suffered extensive injuries and was taken to the Northern General Hospital where he was treated for the following injuries:

A severely crushed right leg which had to be amputated below the knee, a broken right femur, multiple fractures to both arms, 6 Broken ribs, reconstructive surgery to his right elbow and a punctured left lung.

Mr Swift has now been discharged from hospital and is continuing his long recovery at home.

The officer leading the investigation in to the collision, PC Jon Underwood explained: “We believe that there are several witnesses who could assist the police with this investigation, but they have yet to be traced.

“We believe that an off duty nurse attended at the scene and we would ask that she comes forward and makes contact with us. We also believe that there was another car that was following the Fiesta but was not involved in the collision. The driver of this vehicle has also not been traced.

A57 Motorbike accident causes biker to lose leg after accident which took place 13/06/2007 on the A57 near Sheffield.

Before!

Back in June 2007 I was involved in a RTA. A car lost control and ran into me whilst travelling in the opposite direction. I was on my Yamaha 1000cc motorbike. When my wife arrived at the hospital the doctors in charge told her that there was a 94% chance I WOULD NOT survive through the night (this figure gradually came down) and at the third week they were saying 50/50. A week later I was allowed a home visit and although still seriously ill I stayed there, to everyone’s surprise. This put a load of strain on the family but we made it through to the other side by the skin of our teeth (JUST).
The car driver caused the following injuries:
1/ Fractured left Radius
2/ Fractured right Radius & Ulna
3/ Shattered right elbow (into 6 pieces)
4/ Fractured 5 Ribs
5/ Punctured left Lung
6/ Fractured right Femur
7/ Open fractures of right Tib & Fib
8/ Severe crush injuries to right Ankle and foot
9/Severe bruising to the Pelvis (front area)
10/ Bruising to the front right & back left of the head
11/ I had my right leg amputated below the knee 2 days after the accident, but they were not sure weather the entire leg would have to go because of the severity of the fractured Femur. I had to be fitted with an Illazerov frame 6 months after, as my entire ARM had fused into 1 long bone. This meant breaking my ARM and re-working my elbow. This is now working but I have limited mobility with it I have lost all rotation movement of my right hand. The physiotherapy for this I did myself at home. I did attend hospital firstly though to get an outline of exercises needed to aid movement. This physiotherapy was incredibly painful and I found myself almost passing out with the pain that I was subjecting myself to. Although it didn’t seem necessary at the time I’m glad I did it the the limit of myself as the movement I have now has made my surgeon very happy (he was expecting far less movement than the amount I have).
Numerous other problems, such as really bad mood swings, an incredibly short memory, can’t concentrate on things for long periods, lack motivation, severe Phantom pains. Constant pains from joints and fractures, pain when I walk from my femur which   hasn’t repaired itself correctly.

Right Elbow after 11hrs surgery

Right fore-arm

Left Fore-arm

Unfortunately to date these are the only X-ray photographs that I have.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression. I was lead to believe that if you were having to talk to a Psychologist or Psychiatrist then you were nuts? I now know that this is not the case. But I also believe that the only person that I can truly relate to is another person who has lived through what my family and myself have been put through since 2007 (the surgeons and physio’s all say that people with my injuries do not leave the A&E department alive) so I’m extremely lucky to be here today

I will stop for now as you must be getting a bit bored. I will be adding more posts later relating to my recovery which has been long and hard.

If you need to chat about with me about anything then contact me through the site.

Talk soon?