Motorcyclist killed in Clare road crash was travelling at high speed before impact

A motorist was travelling at an estimated speed of "at least 155km per hour" moments before he came off his motorbike in a horror crash, a short distance from Bunratty Castle, an inquest has heard.

At a sitting of Clare Coroner’s court in Kilrush, the inquest heard that James Murphy - a married father of young children from Miltown Malbay, west Clare - lost his right leg below the knee and died instantaneously from multiple severe injuries in the crash.

The fatal incident happened on the N18 at Clonmoney West, Bunratty, Co. Clare on the afternoon of March 14 2022.

In her deposition, Mr Murphy’s sister, Shauna said her brother had called to her home earlier in the day to collect his motorbike and drive it home to west Clare.

She said before the 36-year-old departed, they chatted "about his friend being involved in a fatal collision a few days earlier”. 

Another witness - Limerick woman, Emma Hourigan - described how she was driving her car en route to a family break in Galway in the slow lane of the two lane route around the time of the fatal crash.

She told the inquest that when she saw and heard the speed at which the motorbike was "bombing" it in the fast lane behind her, she got a fright. "I said 'Oh Jesus' out loud to the others in the car", adding: “I slowed and moved towards the line and the hard shoulder as I knew the noise of the bike going past us would be shocking." 

Ms Hourigan said as Mr Murphy’s bike went past her in the fast lane, a blue car in front of her started to veer over into the fast lane to overtake. Ms Hourigan stated the blue car was less than half way over (into) the lane "when the bike braked hard and it had to because of the speed it was doing”. 

Ms Hourigan described what occurred as “horrific”. She said that the motorbike had made a slight impact on the boot area of the blue car and the motorbike went off to the left and the motorcyclist "was catapulted up into the air”. 

She said that the motorcyclist "took a severe wallop off the ground and he hit into the barrier".

Ms Hourigan said the motorbike "went on fire and there was debris everywhere" and she stated that there was only two to three seconds from the time Mr Murphy braked to him coming off the bike.

The witness said that there were no cars in the fast lane before impact.

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The driver of the Blue Skoda, Limerick student, Aimee Curran from Johnstown, Co Kildare said that she had been driving in the fast lane for three to four minutes before the incident.

Ms Curran told Gardai that she had obtained her driving licence just six or seven months before March 2022 and had not travelled that stretch of road before and that she was using Google Maps to get to their destination.

Ms Curran was bringing college friends to a party in Shannon and agreed that it was her first time to drive a car load of people. She agreed with counsel for the Murphy family, Lorcan Connolly BL that she didn’t recall veering out of the slow lane into the fast lane before impact.

Mr Connolly said that passengers in Ms Curran’s car also recalled being in the fast lane for minutes.The crash occurred at around 4pm and off duty medical professional Barbara Slevin told the inquest she was on her way home from work from University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and went to the scene and performed CPR on Mr Murphy after being told Mr Murphy had a slight pulse. However, after administering CPR, Ms Slevin could not get any pulse.

She told the inquest that the motorcycle passed her out on the roadway earlier and that "the speed of the bike struck me as it was unsafe”.

Mr Murphy was pronounced dead at the scene at 4.24pm. The inquest was told that there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in Mr Murphy's system.

Ms Curran, who was tested by gardai at the roadside, has also not consumed any intoxicants.

Mr Connolly told the inquest that the preponderance of evidence is that the accident occurred when the Skoda moved into the fast lane as Mr Murphy was travelling in the fast lane causing him to break violently and that he was thrown from the motorcycle.

A Garda Forensic Collision Report estimated that the speed of Mr Murphy's motorcycle "at the start of the locked wheel was not less than 155km per hour”.

A post mortem found that Mr Murphy died from severe and traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injuries consistent with a road traffic accident.

Having considered the evidence, Clare County Coroner, Isobel O’Dea found the cause of death was in accordance with the medical evidence with injuries consistent with a road traffic accident.

A narrative verdict was returned.