Crashes that killed three people in the days leading up to the 2010 Sturgis SD motorcycle rally that were attributed to sudden deflation of rear tires should be investigated as possibly involving defective tires, said Billy Edwards, attorney.
“Properly made tires don’t suddenly go bad, but a defect can cause even a new tire to blow, especially if it’s subject to the heat and stress of a long trip,” said Edwards, a tire defect legal expert.
Tires can fail for a number of reasons, but a common scenario involves a bead defect leading to structural weakness in the tire itself and the development of a serious and spontaneous leak. Factors in whether and when a defective tire bursts include load, inflation pressure, speed, heat and oxygen, Edwards said.
“Riders on long journeys are usually carrying heavier loads at higher speeds and over longer distances, which are all tire stressors,” he said.
Riders also aren’t given good, accessible information about how much load can be safely carried on a given motorcycle, even though manufacturers and tire makers say it’s critical to safety, Edwards noted.
“Motorcycle load limits are buried in motorcycle manuals, and in some cases require confusing calculations,” he pointed out. “I’ve been urging manufacturers for years to make this information more obvious and available.”
Edwards’ website www.unsafemotorcycles.com offers a Safe Weight Calculator that tells consumers how much they can safely load on certain motorcycle models, primarily large touring bikes.
Robert Lewis Jr., 57, and Lynn Dannecker, 57, both of Wisconsin, along with Diane Thompson, 63, of Boulder, MT, were killed August 6 and 7, in South Dakota in the days leading up to the Rally. The South Dakota Highway Patrol attributed the crashes to problems with the motorcycles’ rear tires. According to news reports, “the tires went flat, lost air pressure or blew, causing the bikes to wobble and crash.”
Edwards recently settled a lawsuit involving the death of a Stephen Gageby, and serious injury to his wife, Carla, in Butte, MT . The lawsuit, filed in the Second Judicial District Court, Butte Silver-Bow County (Cause No. DV-08- 480) claimed a defective bead in the D402 tire on Gageby’s motorcycle was the cause of the Gageby crash.
Edwards also has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Austin, TX. (Cause number D-1-GN-09-003303) on behalf of Martin and Loretta Stricker, both seriously injured in a motorcycle crash in 2008. According to the suit, the couple was riding on US 67 south of Abilene, TX, when a rear tire “suddenly and without warning” deflated. The motorcycle went sideways, flipped and ejected both passengers, the suit said.
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Source – http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/08/prweb4423054.htm
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