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Laws for riding motorcycles

by Wells Foster, Chivon Kloepfer from https://www.wlns.com Laws for motorcyclists are a little different than ones for regular cars. Local legal expert Bryan Waldman breaks down the differences in this Legal Edge report. First, motorcyclists must have the correct kind of insurance. Then, they need a motorcycle endorsement on their driver’s license. Michigan does not require all motorcyclists to wear a helmet, but you first must reach a few milestones. Everyone on a motorcycle under 21 must wear a helmet, regardless of their experience on a bike. They must also have had a motorcycle endorsement for at least two years and/or pass a safety test. You must also have extra insurance coverage to cover medical bills. In Michigan, motorcycles are not considered motor vehicles, meaning insurance works a little differently. Motorcyclists don’t need to purchase any fault insurance. As long as a motor vehicle is involved, a motorcyclist is entitled to benefits. For example, if a motorcyclist spins out and crashes on some gravel by themselves, no fault benefits will activate. However, if they are involved in a near-miss with a car, the benefits do activate.

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More Motorcycle Safety Awareness campaigns by authorities

California Highway Patrol asking motorists to drive with caution from https://www.kget.com The California Highway Patrol is recognizing May as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. The department says as the weather warms up, more and more motorcycles and cars are expected to be hitting the road. Preliminary data from the CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System show more than 500 people were killed in motorcycle-involved crashes in California in 2020 and more than 11,500 people were injured. Here in Kern County, at least eight people have died in motorcycle crashes so far this year. The CHP is asking motorcyclists to be responsible and properly equipped. They’re also asking drivers to watch out for motorcyclists on the road. CHP: Motorcycle safety requires everyone’s attention by Jaime Coffee, Information Officer II, California Highway Patrol from http://antiochherald.com The warming weather and increasing number of vehicles traveling on California’s roadways offer a timely reminder of the importance of motorcycle safety awareness for motorcyclists and motorists alike. By recognizing May as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) emphasizes safe riding and driving practices for everyone. “Motorcyclists who are responsible, informed, and properly equipped can help reduce rider deaths and injuries,” CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray said. “Motorists are also key to reducing crashes by being aware of the dangers and challenges of motorcycle riding. Taking the time to look twice for motorcyclists can save a life.” “Motorcycle riders are more vulnerable out in the elements, which is why it is important for drivers to always be mindful of riders,” California Office of Traffic Safety Director Barbara Rooney said. With more than 1.4 million licensed riders, motorcycles are a popular mode of transportation for Californians, another reason motorcycle safety awareness is paramount. Preliminary data from the CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System show more than 500

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ABATE 31st annual safety ride

from https://www.wgrz.com Buffalo-area motorcyclists take part in 31st annual safety ride. The American Bikers Aimed Toward Education event aims to remind all drivers that motorcyclists are back on the road. BUFFALO, N.Y. — May is Motorcycle Awareness Month, and on Saturday, 75 motorcyclists took part in the 31st annual American Bikers Aimed Toward Education safety ride. The event is aimed at reminding all drivers that motorcyclists are back on the road. There are plenty of safety tips for motorcyclists, including the obvious. “On a motorcycle, you want to make yourself visible,” Lee Argen of ABATE Buffalo said. “You always want as visible as possible. Daytime ride with your high beam lights on. A lot of times, I think people are not visible because their lights are either off or on low beam in the daytime.” Drivers should never try to share a lane with a motorcycle. Always give a motorcycle the full lane width. The one-hour event began Saturday afternoon at the Rath Building in downtown Buffalo.

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Annual Motorcycle Awareness Parade in Wyoming

by Tom Morton from https://kgab.com Hundreds of bikers at noon Saturday will join the annual parade through Casper to mark the beginning of motorcycle awareness month. Casper Police will provide an escort for the bikers for the 10.5-mile route, and the parade will significantly affect traffic. The parade begins at the eastside Walmart, heads west on Second Street then through the Old Yellowstone District, goes north over the Poplar Street bridge, turns east and back to East First Street, then east on the Old Yellowstone Highway to Hat Six Road and ending at the Hat Six Travel Plaza. To keep bikers and motorists safe, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers these tips: If you are turning at an intersection and your view of oncoming traffic is partially obstructed, wait until you can see around the obstruction, sufficiently scan for all roadway users — pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists — and proceed with caution. Slow down your decision-making at intersections. Reaction time and ability to assess and respond to a potential collision, such as a lane change, is significantly hindered if there are large differences in speed among vehicles in traffic. Be diligent in modifying your speed to match other vehicles when approaching a congested roadway. Allow a motorcyclist a full lane width. Though it may seem as if there is enough room in a single lane for a motor vehicle and a motorcycle, looks can be deceiving. Share the road, but not the lane: A motorcyclist needs room to maneuver safely. Because motorcycles are smaller than most vehicles, they can be difficult to see. Their size can also cause other drivers to misjudge their speed and distance. Size also counts against motorcycles when it comes to blind spots. Motorcyclists can be easily hidden in a vehicle’s blind spot. Always look for motorcycles

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Lane Filtering awareness on Motorcycle Awareness Month

by Mercy Owusu from https://www.abc4.com Expect to see motorcycles lane filtering, it’s legal under certain circumstances Lane Filtering is NOT the same as Lane Splitting. Legal for roads with speed limit NOT LEGAL on Freeways. UTAH – As the weather continues to get warmer, Utahans can expect to see more motorcycles on the road — and more motorcycles means more lane filtering. The Department of Public Safety wants to remind drivers they can expect to see motorcycles lane filtering, as well as remind motorcyclists of the conditions under which lane filtering is legal. What is Lane filtering? Lane filtering is when motorcyclists move between two lanes to the front of traffic that is stopped at an intersection. Motorcycle lane filtering was made legal under certain circumstances in Utah in May of 2019. The decision came after the Utah legislature’s passage of HB 149 during the 2019 legislative session. Officials say the law for lane filtering was designed to prevent or reduce rear-end collisions between approaching vehicles and motorcycles stopped in traffic. They added, unlike lane “splitting,” lane “filtering” is intended to provide a “safety pocket” for motorcycles when encountering stopped traffic. Since motorcycle riding is seasonal in Utah, some drivers may be surprised when they see motorcyclists who are lane filtering. Officials emphasized that lane filtering between stopped vehicles on roadways with at least two lanes in the same direction and speeds of 45 mph and lower is legal in Utah. Having a motorcycle pass closely to your stopped vehicle can be startling. However, officials say if you’re aware that lane filtering is legal and know to expect it, you can maintain an awareness of your surroundings and reduce the element of surprise. Motorcycles can lane filter in Utah when the following conditions are met, according to officials: The individual

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Ghost Bike motorcycle statue for awareness

by Dan Soul from https://www.mylloydminsternow.com Ghost bike stands again as reminder of motorcycle safety, tribute to fallen riders The Lloydminster Sport Riders are putting up a ghost bike for another year, to serve as an important reminder for drivers and motorcyclists to share the road and keep each other safe. The motorcycle statue was first put up last year, not only as a reminder to be road aware of bikes but as a sobering reminder of and a way to honour fallen riders as well. With this month marking Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month in Alberta, it will stand at the 59 Avenue-25 Street intersection. The administrator of the LSR, Philip Cummine, says the bike’s key message is being cognizant of the riders people share the road with. ” We want to make sure everyone gets home safe. So we want to help bring the awareness to make sure that people realize that there are motorcycles out there, and a lot of motorcyclists are putting their life on the line when they get out on the road because, for them, a simple accident can be life-threatening.” Riders are out on the road much more in the summer, and both they and drivers can take steps to be protected. For people on their bikes, this means wearing protective gear, making a plan for their ride, and not going out alone so that someone is there to help. Drivers should keep an eye out for riders, be extra diligent in checking blind spots and mirrors, and slow it down when coming up on someone on a motorcycle. Lloydminster RCMP Sargeant Brad Mouland says every year they respond to accidents between motorcycles and cars and they want people on both sides to be aware. “Within Lloydminster, unfortunately, we have seen injury-related collisions and fatalities.

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Britain insurance companies on self-driving vehicles

by Nick Carey, Paul Lienert and Tina Bellon of Reuters from https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com Britain’s driverless car ambitions hit speed bump with insurers Insurers are key players in the shift to automated driving, with some investing in a technology they believe will slash accidents and deaths, and save them billions in payouts. But they are worried drivers might equate today’s lower levels of automation with fully self-driving vehicles, potentially causing more accidents in the short term and permanently damaging public confidence in the technology. Britain’s goal to be a leader in adopting self-driving cars could backfire unless automakers and government regulators spell out the current limitations of the technology, insurance companies warn. “What you describe things as is incredibly important, so people don’t use them inappropriately,” said David Williams, managing director of underwriting at AXA Insurance, whose parent AXA SA made 17 billion euros in revenues from property and casualty insurance, including motor insurance, in 2020. “I genuinely believe the world will be a safer place with autonomous vehicles and I really don’t want that derailed.” In what would be a world first, Britain is considering regulating the use of Automated Lane Keeping Systems (ALKS) on its roads, possibly even on motorways at speeds of up to 70 miles (113 km) per hour. It is also deciding whether to describe them to the general public as “automated” systems. It is that one word – automated – that has stirred controversy and put the country at the centre of a global debate about self-driving terminology at a sensitive moment in its evolution. The technology is evolving rapidly and there is no consensus on how to deploy it or what to call some features. Regulations in the Americas, Europe and Asia lag far behind technical developments and issues over accident liability are unresolved. ALKS

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Bonhams has acquired online auction site The Market

from https://www.bonhams.com London – Bonhams announces it has acquired The Market, one of the leading and fastest growing online marketplaces for classic and collectible car and motorcycle auctions. Founded in Oxfordshire in 2017, The Market has taken the industry by storm. In the last year, the company sold vehicles with a total value of £13 million and grew its turnover by almost 300% compared to the previous year. Its success lies in its technology, transparency, and customer service, which led to exceptional auction results: the company now sells an impressive 94% of lots offered for sale. The acquisition adds another dimension to Bonhams. Founded in 1793, and one of the oldest and most venerable international auction houses, it has salerooms in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Hong Kong. Its Motoring Division, headed by Maarten ten Holder, is the premier auction house for motor cars and has sold many of the legends of road, including the world’s oldest surviving Rolls-Royce. Maarten ten Holder, Managing Director of Bonhams Motoring, said: “This acquisition is a perfect fit for Bonhams and is happening at an exciting time in the car auction world. For the first time a classic car auctioneer will now offer cars at all price points, around the clock, to collectors wherever they are in the world.” Bruno Vinciguerra, Bonhams CEO, added: “Bonhams is renowned globally for its heritage and entrepreneurial spirit, its expertise, transparency, and great client service, and these are all qualities also at the heart of The Market’s operations. This combination will play to both our strengths and allow us to become even more accessible to a wider range of clients. I am very excited about the future.” Tim Joslyn, Founder of The Market, said: “I am delighted that Bonhams will be taking The Market to the

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Why shortages of a $1 chip sparked crisis in the global economy

by Bloomberg from https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com The chip crunch was born out of an understandable miscalculation as the coronavirus pandemic hit last year. When Covid-19 began spreading from China to the rest of the world, many companies anticipated people would cut back as times got tough. To understand why the $450 billion semiconductor industry has lurched into crisis, a helpful place to start is a one-dollar part called a display driver. Hundreds of different kinds of chips make up the global silicon industry, with the flashiest ones from Qualcomm Inc. and Intel Corp. going for $100 apiece to more than $1,000. Those run powerful computers or the shiny smartphone in your pocket. A display driver is mundane by contrast: Its sole purpose is to convey basic instructions for illuminating the screen on your phone, monitor or navigation system. The trouble for the chip industry — and increasingly companies beyond tech, like automakers — is that there aren’t enough display drivers to go around. Firms that make them can’t keep up with surging demand so prices are spiking. That’s contributing to short supplies and increasing costs for liquid crystal display panels, essential components for making televisions and laptops, as well as cars, airplanes and high-end refrigerators. “It’s not like you can just make do. If you have everything else, but you don’t have a display driver, then you can’t build your product,” says Stacy Rasgon, who covers the semiconductor industry for Sanford C. Bernstein. Now the crunch in a handful of such seemingly insignificant parts — power management chips are also in short supply, for example — is cascading through the global economy. Automakers like Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG have already scaled back production, leading to estimates for more than $60 billion in lost revenue for the industry

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