Former politician Vaughan Johnson says he is lucky to be alive after a quad bike accident on his property.

Mr Johnson said he was checking fences at his property near Gympie about three months ago when he lost control of his bike.

The outspoken politician, who was the state member or Gregory in western Queensland for 25 years, said he would no longer use quad bikes.

"As far as I'm concerned, you'll never see me on a quad bike again," Mr Johnson said.

"It was a pretty steep hill but one I've been on before.

"I was going down and when I applied the brakes, I didn't have any brakes, so it wanted to skid and started to go sideways."

He said he had 80 litres of water in a tank on the back of the bike, which he believed has saved his life.

"It started to roll and it rolled on me two and a half times before it came to a stop on top of me," he said.

"If I didn't have that tank on the back, I'd be gone.

File photo: Former MP Vaughan Johnson says more training is needed for quad bike users. ( Belinda Pring )

"The water, the tank being full, acted as a buffer between my body … and the bike itself."

Mr Johnson said he had one leg free and was able to push the bike off him.

"I had the adrenaline running in me and I thought 'I've got to get out of this one. You've been in some curly ones before Vaughan and this is one you've got to get out of'," he said.

"I lay there for about 20 minutes — realised I was badly damaged, I watched my arm break."

"I walked and crawled down to another farm next door."

Mr Johnson was treated in the Nambour Hospital for 10 days, sustaining four broken ribs and a broken arm in the accident.

According to Safe Work Australia, a third of all quad bike accidents occur on terrain with an incline.

A report released earlier this year by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety revealed 15 people were killed in quad bike accidents in 2015.

Mr Johnson said he was lucky he did not become another statistic.

"The doctors told me I shouldn't be alive," he said.

"They said being a bloke of strong will and had good fitness from years gone by is probably what saved me because I had the strength to be able to push the thing off.

"I didn't have a helmet on either which is a no, no — everything I look back on now, I count my blessings."

He said he was calling for greater awareness of the dangers.

"They've got to be made more safely, there's no doubt about that," he said.

"They certainly need a roll bar of some type on them.

"I fear now of the accidents we are going to see in the future of quad bikes and I really believe some kind of training has to be done to understand that there's no give in a quad bike.

"I don't think anyone realises just how dangerous the damn things are until you've been caught in an accident yourself," Mr Vaughan said.