Why UM Insurance Is So Important For Bikers
As a motorcycle accident attorney, I want to explain why I think it is vital that you get as much UM Insurance as possible, how it works and what’s the best UM insurance available. This goes beyond just motorcycle wreck cases, it will also apply to the other vehicles that you have beyond your motorcycle. Here is a real-life example.
An Example of Why Uninsured Motorist Coverage is Necessary in Atlanta
One of our group members had posted about his accident in 2012, and how it was an uninsured driver that ended up hitting him, putting him in the hospital with really bad injuries caused by a bike accident.
Another example is from several years ago. A client of mine reached out about their brother who was actually close to my office. He was coming off of 400, waiting at a light to go across it, to go left onto the other side of the road, and had the green light. He starts to go, and out of nowhere comes an uninsured driver, who didn’t even have a license, and this driver struck and killed him instantly.
The family reached out to me for the wrongful death side of the case, and unfortunately, with the other driver being uninsured, as he was a day laborer, there were no assets to his name and no insurance. All they could rely on was the UM Insurance that their brother had on the motorcycle.
The motorcycle was his only vehicle and his only transportation. So, this was all they had for the loss of this individual, which included the loss of his life, included his pain and suffering before he died, including the damage to his vehicle, lost wages, etc.
This family no longer has assistance from him and his job going forward, so this was a massively large case in court because there was not enough insurance. $50,000 is all he had in UM. That barely covers the emergency services. If you end up going to the hospital and you’re in the hospital for several days, the $50,000 won’t even cover your hospital bill.
Why Bikers in Atlanta Should Obtain Uninsured Motorist Coverage
The point you’ve got to realize is that UM insurance is there to protect yourself, so don’t be cheap out on it, because a lot of people do. They figure, “oh all I care about is protecting my assets in case I cause an accident.” Well especially with motorcycle riders, you’re subjected to large injuries that will cause you to be out of work for many weeks, months, or god forbid, years.
You have got to make sure you protect yourself because you don’t know if an uninsured or worse even, an insured driver that may only have the minimum coverage, which is only twenty-five thousand in Georgia. This underinsured person could still have insurance and it still not be enough. That’s where UM comes into play. It is in your best interest to have this coverage so you can file a UM or underinsured motorist claim after an accident.
What Does Uninsured Motorist Insurance Cover in Atlanta?
There are two different types of UM insurance, and the best is add-on insurance. The other option is a difference in coverage. Now the difference in coverage is going to be cheaper than an add-on. You want to always opt to the add-on UM insurance, even if it means you’ve got to have a lower limit, as it still helps protect you.
What I always recommend is no less than a hundred thousand dollars of add-on UM, especially because you’ve got to be able to afford it. You’d be surprised if you looked at it how much it’s costing you every six months versus getting Starbucks every day. You can certainly come up with several hundred dollars every six months to cover that UM insurance.
What Are the Different Types of UM Insurance in Georgia?
What’s the difference? Well, add-on insurance does what it says. It adds on right on top of whatever insurance the at-fault party has. That’s really important in those situations where the at-fault party only has a small amount of coverage – which won’t cover everything that your case entails. Then, your insurance comes on, and it adds right on top of whatever the limits are of the other driver.
Now, the difference in coverage one is also just what it says, which is why I don’t like it as much. It only covers up to the difference between the at-fault insurance minus your insurance. So, let’s say you’ve got a scenario where there’s $25,000 of liability limits of the at-fault and you’ve got $25,000 of UM difference in coverage. It means 25 minus 25 is zero, and you have no UM coverage in that scenario. So, you only cover yourself if the party – at fault party – is uninsured in that scenario.
Another example is $25K at fault, $50K difference in coverage. Well, what happens there is $25K comes from at fault and then $25K from your UM. So, you can see why even if you’ve got to go with difference in coverage, you want that to be at least a hundred thousand, if not much more.
It is better to do the add-on of $25K, $50K, $100K, $200K or more. These are the kind of levels I’d like to see motorcyclists at, especially well over a hundred thousand dollars.
Contact Spaulding Injury Law to Learn More About Pursuing An Uninsured Motorist Claim Settlement
This is not something to mess with. You’ve got to protect yourself and your family more than anything else with uninsured motorist property damage and bodily injury insurance. If they are out your wages, if you’re racking up medical bills, you may not have health insurance coverage or it may not cover all of your bills, giving your family the financial burden. You’ve got to protect yourself out there because you never know who’s going to hit you.
If you have any questions or comments about what I’ve mentioned here you want to add to it, shoot me an email or contact another uninsured motorist lawyer in our office.
Forward Collision Warning Systems
Today I want to provide my professional opinion as a motorcycle accident attorney and talk about a study that I saw regarding forward collision warning systems and whether they are really calibrated to help protect motorcycle riders as well as the general public on four-wheel vehicles.
What I had found is the ultimate answer to the question is unfortunately no. This is yet another example of how the motorcycle riding community tends to fall back to the foreground when it comes to a lot of new legislation and a lot of new safety type devices.
Legislation Is Lagging When It Comes To Motorcycle Safety
I had talked previously about the Harley tire defect and how that brought up some issues with the law where there are standard federal requirements that cover four-wheeled motor vehicles but don’t cover motorcycles, which are the ones that need it the most when it comes to tires.
Now, here we are again with this forward collision warning systems that are now becoming more and more standard equipment on vehicles. I know I have one, and if you recall, it’s where if you’re approaching a vehicle and the system calibrates that based off of your speed and the vehicle in front of you in the distance, if it doesn’t feel that you’ve got enough time to stop, it’s giving you an advanced warning of the vehicle ahead of you.
What Does The Study Say About Forward Collision Warning Systems?
The first thing this study looked at is what is the minimum requirement for this warning system to go off to keep a collision from occurring? They say this warning should go off at least 2.1 seconds before you’re going to impact the vehicle in front of you to give you a safe distance to stop.
The study found that 40% of the time these advanced warning systems on vehicles were failing to detect a stopped motorcycle in front of the vehicle. To me, that’s astounding.
That’s not talking about intersection-type collisions, where you’ve got two vehicles moving, but is it going to detect that motorcycle? You can kind of understand that it may not pick it up with a moving motorcycle.
We’re talking about a stopped motorcycle in front of the warning system vehicle and it not even going off at all, much less 2.1 seconds or longer, to give that vehicle time not to run into the motorcycle rider.
How Can We Bring More Awareness To Issues Like These?
This is again yet another example of how the safety industry, the legal industry, legislation, and everything else, tend to forget about motorcycle riders. Again, I’ve been a proponent of this on our group. It is massively important to have groups like ABATE on the national scene and local scene, as well as some of the other motorcycle advocacy groups out there to try to tell lawmakers “Hey we’re out here. Don’t forget about us.”
These things need to be designed not only for the larger population of motor vehicles but also for the motorcycles out there. Let’s cover everybody and why not motorcycle riders, especially when the chance of severe injuries or death is so much higher in a motorcycle accident than it is compared to our four-wheeled friends?
Again, this is concerning information, and maybe someone out there watching this can help do something about it. If you have any questions or concerns about this topic, feel free to respond. You can even shoot me an email, as I’d be happy to discuss anything with you.
Is “Loud Pipes Saves Lives” A Myth?
What Do Studies Say About The “Loud Pipes Save Lives” Motto?
Being that I am an Atlanta motorcycle accident attorney, I found a study that studied this phrase and whether the loudness of the pipes, and exhaust pipes of the bike, lead and correlate to fewer motorcycle wreck events.
They found no, it is an absolute myth, and the reason is interesting. The main reason why it’s a myth is because most motorcycle wrecks do not occur where a motorist is striking the biker from the rear.
This is because head-on collisions minimize the effect of the loudness of your exhaust pipes, for obvious scientific reasons: your exhaust pipes are pointed behind you.
The noise is going backward, not to the sides or the front, so it’s less likely that the motorists that are going to potentially wreck with you aren’t going to hear you coming.
The second reason this is a myth is that most motorists have their windows up. They’re not driving convertibles, they typically have at least the radio on, they are talking with someone in the vehicle, they’re on the phone, etc. They’re distracted, and they’re not likely to hear the noise from your motorcycle.
Are There Situations Where Loud Pipes Help?
Yes, it does, from time to time help. I’m sure there are instances where a motorist becomes aware of you just because of the bike’s noise, but it’s very unlikely. The study concludes that bikers should not rely on their bike’s noise to cause awareness of their existence on the road by other motorists.
Instead, the study suggests that bikers don’t go by the loud pipes save lives motto. They say to go to by the “be seen, not heard” motto, which means to do other defensive maneuvers to let motorists know you’re there other than just relying on the noise of your bike.
There’s several of these safety techniques, so stay safe out there, and remember to be a defensive motorcycle rider by implementing techniques to make yourself visible to other motorists. It’s really the only way you’re going to avoid collisions with other motor vehicles.
Today, I want to highlight some great news that came out Wednesday that involves the protection rights of motorcyclists. Many of you have probably heard about this news, but in case you didn’t, here is what happened.
On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court came out with a ruling in a Virginia case stating that warrantless searches of a motorcycle parked in the rider’s driveway and under a carport are warrantless searches that violate the Fourth Amendment.
Why Is This So Important For Motorcyclists?
This was such a big victory for motorcycle riders and advocacy groups and was a case that really never should have been this big of a deal in the first place. In case you don’t know the background of the ruling, let me tell you what happened.
Again, this is a case from Virginia, and what happened is the guy had his motorcycle under his carport and had a tarp over it to protect the motorcycle. The police went on to his property, took off the cover, without a warrant, and searched the motorcycle, looking at the VIN, the registration, etc.
The police were doing this under the guise that they thought this was a stolen motorcycle and they could do a warrantless search because of that probable cause and because it’s a motorcycle that’s out in the open and therefore, they didn’t need a warrant.
As crazy as it is, the lower court in Virginia agreed with the state and said absolutely, if it was a vehicle, a four-wheel vehicle, enclosed car, truck, SUV, you couldn’t do this, but because it was a motorcycle, you could. Unfortunately, everyone figured the United States Supreme Court would side with this decision, but it’s just sad that it even had to get this far.
What Can We Learn From This Ruling?
What this ruling highlight is the prejudice and bias that all bikers are dealing with on a daily basis and how it touches every single aspect of owning a motorcycle. It’s not just in the legal realm where you get injured and have to deal with jurors thinking you’re reckless even though the other persons’ at fault. In their mind, you’re a motorcycle rider who is taking risks, and you shouldn’t recover for what someone else did to you.
Now, we’re talking about police searches and trying to say that owning a motorcycle is different than owning a four-wheel vehicle and you have fewer rights because you own a motorcycle than you would if it was a car or a truck.
It’s just crazy how pervasive the bias is for bikers, but today we can rejoice because the United States Supreme Court has sided with motorcycle rights and has come down hard and said this is clearly a warrantless search that violates the Constitution and the rights of the motorcycle rider.
How Wearing A Helmet Can Affect Your Motorcycle Accident Claim in Georgia
Being that I am a motorcycle accident attorney, I want to talk about helmet use and whether an insurance company can deny coverage under your policy either for property damage or for an injury if you’re not wearing a helmet.
The specific situation is related to incidences where you’re a Georgia licensed motorcycle rider, you have a Georgia license, you’re riding in another state, somewhere that doesn’t require a helmet under their laws, and you get in a high speed motorcycle crash caused by someone else.
Can your Georgia motorcycle policy deny your claim because you weren’t wearing a helmet, even though you weren’t violating the law in the state you were in at the time, but would have been violating Georgia law? My answer is no, they can’t do that.
Does the Law in Georgia Require Motorcyclists to Wear Helmets?
Number one, you’re following the law in the state in which you’re riding at the time, and therefore they can’t really cite any law that you violated to say it cancels your policy and coverage.
More importantly for accidents in Georgia, what really happens with your policy when you’re in an accident here in Georgia, and you’re not wearing your helmet?
Again, I looked it up to make sure I was correct on this, and it’s a very unique situation. The answer appears to be no, you can’t simply as the insurance company under our standard policy say, we don’t have to cover your property damage or your injury because you weren’t wearing a helmet in violation of Georgia law, okay? So, not a blanket denial.
Here’s where it gets tricky. They can use that against you under Georgia’s comparative negligence law to say you were negligent, and if you’re 50 percent or more negligent, they can deny your claim because your negligence is higher than that of the at-fault party that initially caused the injury.
That’s typical in any kind of case. Think about seatbelt laws. They can’t deny your claim because you weren’t wearing a seatbelt. Now could they argue comparative negligence? Potentially, there’s some law out there that won’t allow that either, but that’s for another day.
Can Insurance Companies Deny Coverage For My Motorcycle Injuries?
The bottom line is no. If you are hearing from an insurance company here in Georgia that your policy is negated because you weren’t wearing a helmet we’re not covering you at all. That is not the case; I don’t see anything in the law that allows it.
Here’s the other issue, look at the policy language. There has been a recent movement by some insurance companies to add in language. Now, what I saw, is in the United Kingdom, they had added nationwide for bicycles that if you don’t wear a helmet and it shows that your injury was related to not wearing a helmet and it would have been prevented, then they can deny coverage for any part of your injury. So, there is a movement for these insurance companies and I wouldn’t put it past them to sneak in some language that may apply in the future.
How Can Top Motorcycle Accident Lawyers in Atlanta Help?
If you guys have any questions about your policy, or want to know if you’ve got an issue with wearing a helmet and would it void coverage, not just arguing under the wall but voiding it outright, send it to me. I’d be happy to look at it and review your motorcycle crash case.
Again, no they can’t blanketly deny your claim because you weren’t wearing a helmet whether you’re injured in another state, and you were following their laws regarding no use of the helmet, or you’re here in Georgia technically violating the rules of the road by not wearing a helmet. It cannot be used to blanketly deny your claim.
Reach out if you’ve had any of these issues with any of your insurance companies, I’d love to hear it. Let us know which companies are out there trying to tell motorcyclists that they’re denying claims for bad motorcycle accidents?
I think this is where motorcycle rights advocacy comes into play. I want to hear about it, tell me what insurance companies are you hearing from that are pulling these kinds of tricks, and shoot me an email if you guys have any questions or concerns. Thanks for watching this video. For more information, speak to a motorcycle accident attorney at our firm today.
You or a family member have been injured in Georgia and you’re wondering how long do I have to act on my claim before I lose my rights? That’s called the statute of limitations. Keep watching this video to learn more about how long you have to act before you lose your rights forever in the state of Georgia.
What is the Statute of Limitations For Personal injury Cases in Atlanta?
Hi, I’m Ted Spaulding. I’m an Atlanta personal injury trial lawyer here with Spaulding Injury Law. Thank you for watching this video.
Let me tell you a little bit about the statute of limitations here in Georgia on injury claims.
The typical statute of limitations is two years for almost every injury claim that you can think of except for medical malpractice claims. That has a separate statute of limitations often times.
So, you got typically two years from the anniversary of the incident that led to injury to work with a personal injury lawyer and file a lawsuit. Now, you need to keep in mind that why this is so important is because if you don’t act by that two-year deadline, you forever lose your rights to pursue your injury claim meaning you won’t get payment back for your medical bills, your lost wages, your pain and suffering.
When Should I File A Personal Injury Claim in Atlanta?
Now, what do you have to do? That’s also very important. Within that two year period, you have to physically file suit against the at-fault party or parties with the help of a personal injury attorney in Atlanta.
If you have multiple people involved, and you only sue one, you forever lose your rights against the others.
So, at the end of the day, it’s typically two years, and it means you need to file a lawsuit in court to preserve your rights within that time frame.
Thank you for watching this video. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to reach out to me or you can email me, you can also contact us, (770) 744-0890, I’d be happy to speak with you about any questions or concerns that you may have.
How To Keep From Laying Down Your Bike
In this video, I want to provide some safety tips about what to do when you’re entering a blind curve. If you end up hitting your front tire with either loose gravel, sand, leaves, grass, whatever it is, a hazard on the road, but you’re hitting it on a blind curve, what can you do to keep your bike up and not lose control?
Funny enough, the rule is to avoid it in the first place.
Sure, it seems simple, but here’s what I mean by that. There are two simple rules for everyone no matter what your skill level, that can help you avoid this scenario. The two rules are speed and vision.
How Can Speed And Vision Help A Rider Avoid Laying Down Their Bike?
Speed is very important when you’re coming onto the curve, and the rule of thumb there is slow in, fast out. This refers to pace, and how you want to go at a pace coming into the curve where you are fully under control of your motorcycle, and more importantly, are able to avoid something that you see on the road.
If you’re going too fast, obviously you’re not going to have enough time to use any defensive maneuvers to avoid any objects in the roadway.
Number two dovetails into that first rule, which is you need to increase your vision as much as possible.
What the experts recommend is when you’re going into a blind curve, you want to go as wide as possible to give yourself as large of a field of vision as possible, so you can see what’s on the roadway ahead of you in your lane.
No matter what your skill level, use these tricks to try to avoid this type of incident.
Are There Any Other Skills That Can Be Used To Avoid Laying Down Your Bike?
There are some skills that are recommended for these circumstances, all of which you can learn in advanced training courses.
One of these skills is called trail breaking.
What this entails is when you’re coming into the curve, that you break all the way to the apex of the curve using your front brake.
Next, you use that front brake as you’re going in the apex. As you come to the apex of the curve, you are then swapping brake for throttle and using that initial rule of thumb which is slow in, fast out of the curve.
Now, the theory here is when you’re applying the brake, your front tire will expand. It gives your tire more tread if it does hit this gravel, to consume it and not lose control of the bike. Again, it’s one of the more advanced skills, and you want to practice this a little bit.
Another tip, which is a very controversial one that is used by police in their training overseas, and it’s obviously a rule violation of the roads here in America, but to the extent, you can do this safely.
Again, toward the second general rule, which is maximizing your field of vision going into the curve and getting as broad as you can as you’re entering the curve, they suggest using the full width of the roads.
This means that you’re going into the opposite lane of travel. So, you are as wide as possible as you’re coming into that curve the better.
Now, you need to make sure if you’re doing this, no one else is around, and you don’t want any officers around that could see you into oncoming traffic.
Police officers are trained on how to do this, so it must be effective, but you still have to be careful.
So again, I hope these will help you, give you a little bit of a quick refresher as you’re entering turns.
I know a lot of folks love going on Dragon’s Tail because of all those winding curves, so this is great advice for riding on Dragon’s Trail.
Last week, the Governor’s Highway Safety Association’s annual reported the numbers for motorcycle fatalities for 2017. The good news is there was a marked decrease in the number of motorcycle fatalities in comparison to 2016, with the decrease being 5.6%. Let our Alpharetta motorcycle accident law firm explain.
What Do These Statistics Suggest?
What I found interesting is one of the three highlights of factors leading to fatalities in 2017 was the increase in the average age of the fatalities involved in motorcycle accidents.
The average age rose to 43, and this study highlighted the aging population of motorcycle riders.
This study discussed that many baby boomers are getting back into motorcycle riding after not riding for decades.
This brings awareness to the safety issue for all of us, even younger riders who have been riding consistently for years.
The two big factors included a lack of training when these folks return to motorcycle riding. They’re just getting their licenses; they’re not getting up to speed on training how to ride the bike again, getting through that endorsement part of motorcycle riding.
What Was The Second Factor In This Study?
The number two factor was that these folks are buying inappropriate bikes for their age and skill level.
They’re getting bigger bikes for their age, and the abilities these bikes require are not what these older bikers have. In short, they’re not buying the appropriate bike for them given their skill level, given their age, given their strength and abilities.
What Can We Learn From This Study?
No matter our age, bikers need to get training, get retrained from time to time, and they need to make sure when they’re buying a new bike that they get a bike that fits their skill level and strength.
You don’t want to go and buy too large of a bike for what you can handle; it won’t be safe.
Now, what it also showed in this age issue was for 2016, similar again for 2017, was in 36% of all motorcycle fatalities, the rider was 50 or older.
If you’re 50 or older, you need to realize you’re at higher risk. Again, a lot of this is because of the training and the type of bike that you have.
Be careful out there and think about these issues. Even if you’re under 50, think about those issues, and be safe.
If you have any particular questions or concerns, feel free to respond, comment below on this video or shoot me an email.
Motorcycles And Grass Clippings On The Road
Today I want to talk about a very dangerous situation that has come to the forefront this summer. I’ve seen a lot of people talking about it in motorcycle groups, and as a Cumming motorcycle accident lawyer, I have actually just had an accident here recently by a motorcycle rider losing control. What I’m referring to is the cutting of grass and blowing the clippings onto the roadway, without cleaning them up.
What we’re seeing is that mainly residents in county roads where folks are mowing the lawn, are blowing grass clips onto the road. This is also happening on state highways. These clippings are not getting cleaned up, and no one thinks about this from the perspective of a motorcycle rider. As we know as motorcycle riders, this is like driving on glass for a motorcycle. It’s a very dangerous situation.
In Georgia, Is It Illegal To Leave Glass Clippings On The Road?
So, what I’m asked oftentimes is – “Is it illegal to leave grass clippings on the road in the state of Georgia?” – and the answer that I have given is — your typical legal answer, which is yes and no. It’s up to interpretation.
There is no exact statute on point, unlike North Carolina for instance. They have a state statute on point that says it’s illegal to do this, Georgia does not. However, Georgia needs it; and my understanding is it’s something that ABATE is going to start working on legislatively here in the future, which I think is going to be great for motorcycle safety.
Our Atlanta motorcycle accident lawyer shares: “My legal interpretation is that this would likely fall under Georgia’s littering stature. It does not specifically mention grass clippings or other sorts of natural debris, but I think it would fit in. We have seen cases in the past where prosecutors have gone after folks for much less than just grass clippings under that statute.”
The example I give is from a colleague of mine, who as a prosecutor saw a truck driver and his company face prosecution under the Georgia littering statute for the truck driving down the road dripping water from its tank. It was not any kind of chemical or anything, just pure water, and they said it’s littering.
I think it would fall under that statute, but again, it up to police officers and sheriffs that are willing to charge that, prosecutors being willing to take it up and charge it, and actually prosecute this. More importantly, we need to have a statute that covers this. This is a known hazard, but in my opinion, it’s not being dealt with properly by the state with a law.
Now beyond that, there are specific ordinances in counties and cities across the state that do mention specifically grass clippings being illegal to leave on a city or a county road.
What Can A Motorcyclist Do To Stay Safe?
What I’ve told people to do is if you’re riding around, stop the person who is putting grass clippings on the road and just nicely say “Hey, you’re probably not a motorcycle rider but I am and what you’re doing is very dangerous. Make sure you get it off the roadway as quickly as possible. Do everything you can to blow it away from the road, not onto the road.” Often, people are receptive to it, and it at least makes them aware, so maybe they won’t do this the next time.
I encourage everybody out there to do that and make people aware because they simply don’t know. It’s incredible how many people don’t even think about it because they’re thinking about cars. “Oh, it’s no big deal. Cars will blow it back onto the road.”
Next time you’re out on the road, and you see these things, take pictures of it, post it on social media, etc. Let these homeowners know what’s going on. Certainly, if you see the state or county doing it because they need to be following the right procedures to get that off the road as quickly as possible.
In short, grass clippings are very dangerous, and you need to be safe out there and to be looking for them while riding a motorcycle so that you can avoid it at all costs. It is obviously very dangerous when you are coming around a curb and don’t know it’s there, so there’s not much you can do.
If you have any more questions or concerns about grass clippings and the law, I would love to have a conversation about it with you.
Harley Tire Issues and The Need For More Safety
Today, I want to discuss an article that’s been going around some of the biker groups here in Georgia and throughout the United States.
Some of the takeaways are for the safety of all motorcycle riders and what advocacy groups can do to start getting involved with some of the broader safety issues.
The article I’m referring to is the tire defect allegations against Goodyear on Harley Davidson motorcycles.
What Is The Defect In Question?
What has happened is there is a Goodyear tire that Harley Davidson used on its motorcycles starting back in 2006 and going forward. It’s called the Dunlop D 402 tire and here are some of the stats.
These tires are used on Harley Davidson’s, and they’ve failed allegedly in 11 states, and have caused four deaths and 22 injuries, that we know of. All of which have occurred since 2006, with this article specifically mentioning the Morris’.
The Morris’ are a husband and wife who were traveling in 2008 up to Myrtle Beach for their anniversary weekend. When driving through Georgia, their tire allegedly blew out, and Mr. Morris lost control.
His wife was on the back of the bike, and she passed away. Mr. Morris was severely injured, he has recovered, but lost his wife. This article goes talks about the defect and how on that particular tire, there were only 700 miles on the tire. This issue was present on 12 different lawsuits across the country against Goodyear.
Has There Been A Recall For These Harley Tires?
Now, there has not been a recall on these specific tires, and Goodyear says it’s not defective. However, this is just one of three issues.
The first issue is overloading, the second is the under-inflation of the tire, and the third is defects in the road causing the tire to blow out.
Many of them have been settled, while others are still going on with the lawsuits.
So, I leave it up to you all as to whether you think if you’ve got this tire you need to replace it or not. Again, no national recall yet, but it is certainly of concern.
What Can We Learn From This?
Here’s the broader takeaway from the investigation that provides a safety perspective for all of us riding motorcycles.
Obviously, as Goodyear’s arguments in these cases go, you need to be looking at the inflation of your tires constantly, and you need to be looking at overloading of your bike, and obviously avoiding hazards on the road.
But, when it comes to defects in tires and how to avoid them, there’s really no way. Here are the two areas that are of concern.
One, all cars and SUVs since 2007 have to be manufactured with tire monitoring software. You’re probably familiar with that if you’ve got a 2007 or earlier model. Bikes don’t have to have it.
If you have a blowout, you’re more likely to be injured or killed on a motorcycle than you are in an SUV or other four-wheeled car.
How that has slipped through regulations is unacceptable.
The second one is there’s no requirement that the rim of the wheel of a bike must contain the tire when there’s a flat.
It’s beyond a run-flat tire, they’re talking about not having a full on blow out where the tire just disintegrates, and all you have is the rim itself. Obviously, that’s a big concern for motorcycle riders as you lose control.
This technology has been required since 2007 on SUVs and other four-wheeled vehicles, but not on motorcycles. Again, this is unfavorable to me because this has not been dealt with.
When we’re talking about a device such as a bike that you lose control, that could be the end of your life, unlike when you’re in a secure car or SUV.
If you’ve got these Dunlop tires, make your own decision on whether you think they need to be replaced, especially given the evidence that’s out there.
Again, there has been no national recall yet, but there’s growing evidence of something being awry with these tires given the number of incidences that are out there and to look at these two initiatives. We need to see if there’s anything that bikers or safety groups can do to advocate to have the laws changed, so manufacturers of tires for motorcycles and the motorcycle manufacturers themselves have to abide by the same regulations for SUVs and other motor vehicles.
