Good morning and welcome to Facebook Live.
I'm Cindy Speaker and I'm happy today to have with me Dave Miller.
Dave is an attorney with Michael J. O'Connor and Associates.
He's going to talk with us.
We're going to talk a little bit about motorcycle safety awareness in light of motorcycle safety
awareness month.
Dave, thanks for being with us today.
Good morning, Cindy, it's my pleasure.
Excellent.
Well, Dave, this is motorcycle safety awareness month.
I'm talking to you for two reasons.
Number one, you handle a lot of motorcycle crash cases, but also because you're just
as guy who knows a lot about this and can really help us in light of motorcycle awareness
month.
First of all ... Yeah, go ahead.
That's right.
That's right.
It's a dual interest that I have.
Obviously, representing motorcycle riders who have been injured in crashes and also,
more importantly, is avoiding those and ways that we can avoid or cut down on the number
of crashes that happen every year.
Tell us a little bit about that.
What are some precautions that we, as car and truck drivers, can adhere to in order
to prevent some of these motorcycle crashes that occur.
Well, from a vehicle operator standpoint, a truck driver or a car, you've got to understand
and I think most experienced drivers do, that motorcycles are different.
Obviously, there are less protections available.
The biggest, I think, safety precaution that you can take is just allow more room.
The old two second rule for following, I think you want to expand that maybe even to four
seconds.
We also understand that motorcycles are a little bit more maneuverable and can accelerate
much quicker but they also have a more difficult time safely decelerating if need be.
That adds into that reason to give them some extra time.
First off, so they can react and then secondly so that you can react to what they're doing.
That's probably the biggest thing.
The other is, if you drive around the roads of Pennsylvania you'll see the signs.
"Keep an eye out."
"Motorcyclists are out."
A lot of crashes that I see are simply because the operator of the car or truck never saw
the motorcycle.
That's simply a matter of perception because we're used to looking for bigger objects on
the roadway and it's just the way our eyes work and the way our minds process visual
information is when you're looking down a road that you're used to seeing a big truck
coming down or a larger SUV and then all of the sudden you have a smaller motorcycle,
your eyes just don't pick it up.
It blends into the background.
You think you saw it was clear and then next thing you do, you pull out in front of somebody
on a motorcycle.
It's never a good situation.
When I was learning to drive, when my dad was teaching me, he taught me to be on high
alert when we go into tunnels.
I said to somebody else that I was talking to about this issue of noticing motorcycles
is that we kind of have to be on high alert any time we're around a motorcycle just to
be sure ... There's a whole different dynamic going on there.
Yeah, absolutely.
That's a great way of thinking of it.
It's almost your normal mentality when you're operating your car, your vehicle ... You should
be aware anyway.
With all the distractions that can otherwise happen, but certainly when there's a motorcycle
around, you need to heighten things up and really be on the top of your senses.
If you're uncomfortable, just pull over or slow down and let them get far enough ahead
of you and then go on your way.
The reality is, you do.
All of your senses need to be heightened when you're around a motorcycle.
I know a lot of times the crash isn't ... And let me just ask you this, do you see any statistics,
statistical significance in terms of how often the crash is the car driver's fault versus
the motorcyclist's?
Because we've all seen the motorcyclist that weaves in and out and I think sometimes they
get a bad rap.
But I don't think it's always ... I don't know if it's even predominantly motorcyclist's
fault.
I think you're right.
I don't know the actual stats on that, on fault analysis on motorcycle crashes.
But I would say ... I probably used to be a little bit swayed, as a younger driver,
when you would see the motorcycles kind of zipping in and out and you're like, "Oh, boy,
here we go."
A couple miles down the road you might be seeing something you don't want to see.
But, I think, the reality is the majority of motorcycle riders are safe riders and they
take the precautions that need to be taken.
I was just think about that just driving up to work today.
I had an hour long drive and there was plenty of motorcycles out there.
I didn't see anyone zipping around.
I probably had about five to ten motorcycles on the road and everyone was riding the bike
the right way.
I think they do get a bad rap.
I think those types of drivers shouldn't have a motorcycle license because they're not only
putting other drivers at risk, they're clearly taking their own life at risk as well driving
like that.
They're breaking all the safety rules that I can think of on how to ride a motorcycle
a safe way on the roads in Pennsylvania.
You want to take every precaution you possibly can.
Talk a little bit about that, Dave.
Some of the precautions that drivers ... And let me just say I agree with you that I do
think a lot of times motorcyclists get a bad rap because they are usually very safe drivers.
Talk a little bit about some of those safety precautions that bikers should take and most
bikers do take.
I kind of break this down into three different categories.
The first one is to know your motorcycle as the rider.
You want to make sure you understand how the bike works.
You don't have to be an expert mechanic, but have an understanding of the basic operations
of the motorcycle, what needs to be repaired, always keep it tuned properly.
Make sure your brakes are in good working order.
A lot of these motorcycles also have recalls where there's some, say, a steering mechanism
needs to be replaced.
Make sure your bike is in as perfect condition as it possibly can be before you get on the
road.
That's number one.
Two, is know yourself as a motorcycle rider.
Just like drivers, they come in all shapes and sizes and skill ability.
If you're not comfortable going on a highway, don't go on a highway.
If you're not comfortable in rush hour traffic down 76 going down to Philadelphia where it's
a lot of stop and go, try to avoid that.
One of the ways to really know yourself is to ... And I will always talk about this program
because I think it's excellent is the Pennsylvania Motorcycle Safety Program which is a free
program that's run by the state but it's put on by experienced drivers so it's more like
a volunteer situation.
You're really getting person to person experienced accounts of what to do, how to operate your
bike, what to look out for.
There's a basic rider program and it goes all the way up to an advanced rider course
even for someone who's been riding for 30 years.
It's never a bad thing to revisit safety.
Where can they take that course?
Are there places in your area?
Yeah.
They're offered all throughout Pennsylvania at different times of the year.
There's actually a winter classroom program as well so if you're just looking to get a
motorcycle license you can do the classroom in the winter time and then you have to do
the on-cycle training when they hold that in the spring or summer time.
The website you can sign up for alerts and they'll post when they're having those classes.
I think it's an excellent idea for anybody no matter how experienced you are.
Do you happen to know that website?
Yeah.
It's www.pamsp.com.
So it's PA Motorcycle Safety Program dot com.
Excellent.
I was actually just reading up on this.
I didn't realize this but, if you take the basic rider course, you don't have to go to
the driver license center to do the on-bike training so you save yourself a couple of
hours there.
And also you're eligible for reduced motorcycle insurance rates.
So there's two huge benefits to that program in addition to being a safer motorcycle rider.
Save yourself some time and maybe some money as well.
I couldn't plug that program any more strong.
Sure.
Sure.
Let me ask you about that ... I lost my place here, let me see my notes.
I never got back to number three.
I'm sorry.
Let me go the insurance issues because you mentioned the insurance.
Sure.
Are there unique insurance issues?
Yes, there are.
In Pennsylvania, motorcycle insurance is different than the automobile insurance policy in one
major way and that is what we call first part benefits are not available on the motorcycle
insurance policy in Pennsylvania.
So that means that, unlike on your auto policy, you don't have any medical coverage and you
don't have any wage loss coverage so those are the two big items.
Those are immediate impact items as well if someone's involved in a crash and injured
because you need a way to pay for your medical bills and you need a replacement source of
income if you're going to be out of work for a while.
That's why it's very important for anybody riding a motorcycle to understand those risks
and what is and is not provided in their motorcycle insurance policy and then have other insurance
available to make up for those holes.
By statute, there's nothing you can do about it other then you can buy short term disability
policy and probably should have a long term disability policy as well for income replacement
and then also, obviously, have health insurance or a way to pay for medical bills.
The way health insurance is these days you know most plans have pretty large co-pays
or deductibles so keep that in the back of your mind as well because you've got to fill
those gaps somehow and you don't want to have an unfortunate experience really be a life
changing financial detriment to you.
Let me just make sure I understand that.
So your injured on a motorcycle and what you're saying is your own health insurance is what's
going to come into play there.
Yeah, immediately.
As opposed to a car where you would have benefits within the auto policy.
Right.
Your auto policy will provide a medical payments benefit.
The minimum in PA is $5,000.
You can always increase that up to as much as you want, as much as the insurance companies
want to sell you.
As a side note, I would say that's the cheapest health insurance you'll ever purchase.
Take a look at their auto policy as well.
If you have $5,000 there, if you get an ambulance ride and a visit in the ER, that's pretty
much going to be used up.
These days with using the helicopters maybe a little bit over zealously, again, that $5,000
coverage is used up very, very quickly.
Where, even if you bump it up to $10,000, that gives you some added treatment post emergency
room that can save you some money because now you're not paying anything out of pocket
depending on what your personal health insurance provides.
What about motorcycle crashes?
What are the most common causes that maybe you see?
Most common causes, and I'll split this up, by liability analysis reasons, but the one
is the motorcycle rider not riding safe enough for conditions where if we have a wet roadway
or someone's out in the early spring and the roads haven't been swept up yet from the salt,
things like that.
You just have to really know your roadway and drive safe.
Taking a turn too quickly, we see a lot of those where the rider has to lay the bike
down on the side because they can't stop in time.
On the flip side, when we're looking at the other driver's fault, most of the times I
see it as a turn in front of the motorcycle, either pulling out from a stop or making a
left hand turn across the other lane or they simply did not see the motorcycle or they
weren't able to calculate, I guess, the time that the motorcycle was going to get to that
point.
Just because, again, it's a matter of perception.
Like we talked before, you can either miss it completely or also you can't judge it properly
because it's a smaller object.
Let me ask you something about that with liability.
If the car makes a turn in front of the motorcycle, but the motorcycle hits the car I would guess
there's a liability issue there because probably both parties try to say it's the other party's
fault.
Yeah.
Even when it sounds very clear, like, "Okay, the car's not supposed to turn in front on
a bike," but it's never that simple.
It's always, "Well, how fast was the bike going?
What could the rider have done differently?
Could they have come to a stop or did some kind of avoidance maneuver?"
The reality is any vehicle that makes a left turn across traffic, has to do it safely which
means you have to allow enough time to complete your turn so there's going to be liability
there.
The matter is depending on the crash analysis and the reconstruction often leads to that
to do a sort of time and distance analysis.
There's also perception and reaction time on the part of the motorcycle rider as well.
We have to understand that we can't just slam on the brakes on the motorcycle.
There has to be enough time to bring the bike to a safe stop.
If you slam on the brakes, you're just going to end up turning sideways and you might have
to put your bike down on the side which is not something that anyone wants to do.
It's a complex analysis.
Every crash is complex when it comes to a motorcycle.
That's why points of impact are sometimes hard to figure out on a motorcycle as well
because you're not looking at a vehicle versus a vehicle.
You're looking at a much different object that has different mechanics and different
physics behind it.
Not to jump ahead, but with the motorcyclist, so with these types of liability issues, you're
talking about crash analysis and speed and all of this, that is a reason for someone
who is a biker in a situation like that to get a lawyer involved because the average
person is not going to know where to go to get a complex crash analysis.
Can you talk a little bit about ... I know you had talked about you brought in a new
case last week that was a serious crash.
I know you can't talk about that, but just generally speaking talk a little bit about
types of things that you do in those situations in terms of crash analysis.
What kinds of experts do you have to get involved in those situations?
We use experts to do a reconstruction for us.
The state police, I believe every state police or most state police throughout the country
have their own crash analysis teams where in severe situations they'll come around with
their equipment, do a scan, take a look at all the markings on the roadway, take photographs,
take statements from all the witnesses, the parties involved obviously.
We don't always agree with that or we want an independent look at it.
It's nothing against them.
They do an excellent job at the state police but it's always good to have different perspectives
on things.
Maybe they missed something on the roadway that ... One small little yellow mark or skid
mark on the roadway can mean all the difference in a crash analysis.
That's what we would do.
If they give us a call soon after the crash, obviously we would reach out to the state
police or whatever police department is doing the work up, the report, and the crash analysis.
If need be, we'll get our folks out there as well while the markings are fresh, while
people's memories are fresh.
It's very important, I think, the witnesses are critical because there's times where if
it's a party against a party, motorcycle rider versus a truck or a car, they're each going
to have their own perspectives of what happened.
So if you have multiple witnesses who can add into the story then it's easier to piece
it all together.
And hopefully it all makes sense with what we see on the roadway and what the final positions
of the vehicles were as well.
As you can see, that was a lot of words.
I hope that came across.
It's a very complex analysis.
It's forces.
It's all the stuff that maybe we took back in high school that we thought we'd never
use again and most people don't in their every day life which is why we bring these experts
in.
Just to go back was there anything else in terms of crashes, types of crashes that you
see?
I think that's it but I wanted to go back to that first one.
The third point that I wanted to make on being safe is for the motorcycle rider to understand
the risks that are there.
Most motorcycle riders are also vehicle operators so I think they have an understanding of that,
but I think going to one of those PA Motorcycle Safety Program courses is ... That five hour
classroom will go over all these types of things.
A lot of it is common sense stuff but it's never a bad thing to keep it fresh in your
mind.
Right.
Absolutely.
Dave, if someone has specific questions how can they reach you guys?
They can get us ... Go to our website at www.oconnorlaw.com or give us a call at 1-800-518-4529.
Excellent.
Anything else you want to add before we go today, Dave?
Ride safely.
Be safe out there, everybody.
There you go.
Thanks, everybody, for being here today.
If you have questions or comments you can put them right in the comment section on this
page.
Dave, thank you, again, for being here.
Thank you, Cindy.
Okay.
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