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$18.7 million damages awarded against makers of tour bus involved in cyclist's deathgavel.jpg

$18.7 million damages awarded against makers of tour bus involved in cyclist's death

Jury found that flaw in vehicle's aerodynamic design led to rider being pulled underneath it...
by Simon_MacMichael
Tue, Mar 27, 2018 10:41
13

A jury in Nevada has awarded damages of $18.7 million against the manufacturers of a tour bus after finding that a flaw in its aerodynamic design led to the death of a cyclist last year.

Dr Kavyan Khiabani, head of hand and microsurgery at the University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine, was killed in April 2017 when he was pulled under the bus as he rode alongside it in a cycle lane, reports Courtroom View Network (CVN).

Witnesses described how he appeared to veer suddenly towards the 2008 model bus made by North America’s largest manufacturer of buses and coaches, Motor Coach Industries (MCI).

Lawyers for the company, whose insurers reportedly tried to settle the product liability case for $1 million during the month-long trial, had argued that the bus complied with relevant federal safety regulations and that Dr Khiabani had swerved towards the bus, causing the fatal collision.

William Kemp, acting for the victim’s family, maintained that due to its aerodynamic design, the front right of the tour bus exerted a pulling force of 20 pounds whereas other buses with aerodynamic designs exerted no such force.

As a result, the manufacturer should have been aware of the risk posed to cyclists by the vehicle’s design, he argued.

Following the jury’s verdict, he told CVN: “Plaintiffs hope that the verdict stimulates the manufacturers of large buses and trucks to design safer vehicles that are not aerodynamically dangerous.”

He said that the scale of MCI’s operations meant that “any changes made by it will quickly benefit society.”

Kemp added: “This case should be remembered as the first product liability case against a bus manufacturer to recover for poor aerodynamic design.

“Because there are hundreds of thousands of buses and large trucks on the road today that also have bad aerodynamic design that impacts millions of unwary bicyclists they pass, other like lawsuits are inevitable.”

Dr Khiabani’s wife, Dr Katayoun Barin Khiaban, died in October last year from colon cancer. Like her husband, she was born in Iran and moved to Canada with her family. The couple met at McGill University in Montreal and are survived by their teenage sons Keon and Aria.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/las-vegas-dentist-di...

Nevada
bus
coach
product liability
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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13 comments

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
1 like

Highlights yet again speeds allowed by vehicles on the road is one of the root problems, also that 'limits' are not a target to aim to achieve. Slowing down when passing vulnerable road users even if in their own lane or even a pedestrian at the side of a road with little actual gap should be the minimum consideration.

Maybe we should be sueing for piss poor HGV design when they kill the vulnerable due to inability to see everywhere around them to be safe to use, oh wait, we have a government and a dictatorship (EU) that deems it everyone elses responsibility to get the fuck out of the way!

Avatar
SingleSpeed replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
0 likes

From the Court wrote:

 

The case is captioned Keon Khiabani, et al. v. Motor Coach Industries Inc., et al. case number A-17-755977-C in the 8th District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the jury determined the MCI bus was defectively designed. Jurors found no design defect and returned a plaintiff's verdict on the claim of failure to warn only. 

 

 

See above the Jurors found No Flaws in the design or manufacture of the vehicle simply that they failed to warn other road users of the potential risk it posed. eg. A Cyclists Stay Back sticker could potentially have got them off the hook.

Avatar
Paul_C replied to SingleSpeed | 6 years ago
0 likes

SingleSpeed wrote:

See above the Jurors found No Flaws in the design or manufacture of the vehicle simply that they failed to warn other road users of the potential risk it posed. eg. A Cyclists Stay Back sticker could potentially have got them off the hook.

and a fat lot of good that is when the coach is overtaking...

Avatar
SingleSpeed replied to Paul_C | 6 years ago
0 likes

Paul_C wrote:

and a fat lot of good that is when the coach is overtaking...

From numerous open road TT's I'm well aware of that, I was just pointing out some pretty sloppy cut and paste reporting of what actually happened in the courtroom, transcripts of which are readily available from them there over yonder america.

Avatar
HLaB | 6 years ago
1 like

Fair enough about the vehicle design being poor but was the driving not poor in not compensating for it 7

Avatar
kil0ran replied to HLaB | 6 years ago
1 like
HLaB wrote:

Fair enough about the vehicle design being poor but was the driving not poor in not compensating for it 7

I doubt you'd be aware as a driver, unlikely to be part of standard training. Occasionally I get passed by tippers doing 40mph and even if they move into the opposite lane (as generally they do) the buffeting in the slipstream is monumental. It's like riding past a gap in a hedge in a crosswind

Avatar
HLaB replied to kil0ran | 6 years ago
0 likes

kil0ran wrote:
HLaB wrote:

Fair enough about the vehicle design being poor but was the driving not poor in not compensating for it 7

I doubt you'd be aware as a driver, unlikely to be part of standard training. Occasionally I get passed by tippers doing 40mph and even if they move into the opposite lane (as generally they do) the buffeting in the slipstream is monumental. It's like riding past a gap in a hedge in a crosswind

 

A machine itself doesn't kill, somebody has to be ultimately  responsible IMO, be it the driver or the training (or lack of), I don't think you can 100% blame the designer.  A gun is potentionally deadly but a human has to pull the trigger and IMO you can't blame Gatling, Colt, Kalashinikov etc for all the people killed by their designs.  Whilst far from ideal your tipper drivers (probably through training) are taking steps to mitigate things a bit.

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to HLaB | 6 years ago
1 like

HLaB wrote:

kil0ran wrote:
HLaB wrote:

Fair enough about the vehicle design being poor but was the driving not poor in not compensating for it 7

I doubt you'd be aware as a driver, unlikely to be part of standard training. Occasionally I get passed by tippers doing 40mph and even if they move into the opposite lane (as generally they do) the buffeting in the slipstream is monumental. It's like riding past a gap in a hedge in a crosswind

 

A machine itself doesn't kill, somebody has to be ultimately  responsible IMO, be it the driver or the training (or lack of), I don't think you can 100% blame the designer.  A gun is potentionally deadly but a human has to pull the trigger and IMO you can't blame Gatling, Colt, Kalashinikov etc for all the people killed by their designs.  Whilst far from ideal your tipper drivers (probably through training) are taking steps to mitigate things a bit.

the primary function of the gun is to kill or maim, it’s not a side-effect of bad design. The bus problem was a side-effect of a design for which the designer must be held responsible.

In any case, I do believe that you can blame Gatling as they took an informed decision to design these things and to design them to be as effective as possible. Guns and other intentional weapons don't  spontaneously self-assemble and go looking for an owner, so without the designer, manufacturers and distribution network most of those people would not have been killed.

Avatar
HLaB replied to ConcordeCX | 6 years ago
0 likes

ConcordeCX wrote:

HLaB wrote:

kil0ran wrote:
HLaB wrote:

Fair enough about the vehicle design being poor but was the driving not poor in not compensating for it 7

I doubt you'd be aware as a driver, unlikely to be part of standard training. Occasionally I get passed by tippers doing 40mph and even if they move into the opposite lane (as generally they do) the buffeting in the slipstream is monumental. It's like riding past a gap in a hedge in a crosswind

 

A machine itself doesn't kill, somebody has to be ultimately  responsible IMO, be it the driver or the training (or lack of), I don't think you can 100% blame the designer.  A gun is potentionally deadly but a human has to pull the trigger and IMO you can't blame Gatling, Colt, Kalashinikov etc for all the people killed by their designs.  Whilst far from ideal your tipper drivers (probably through training) are taking steps to mitigate things a bit.

the primary function of the gun is to kill or maim, it’s not a side-effect of bad design. The bus problem was a side-effect of a design for which the designer must be held responsible.

In any case, I do believe that you can blame Gatling as they took an informed decision to design these things and to design them to be as effective as possible. Guns and other intentional weapons don't  spontaneously self-assemble and go looking for an owner, so without the designer, manufacturers and distribution network most of those people would not have been killed.

 

Yes I agree that the designer is responsible to some degree but not fully IMO there must be some responsibility on the user, again thats IMO 3

Avatar
John Smith replied to HLaB | 6 years ago
0 likes

HLaB wrote:

kil0ran wrote:
HLaB wrote:

Fair enough about the vehicle design being poor but was the driving not poor in not compensating for it 7

I doubt you'd be aware as a driver, unlikely to be part of standard training. Occasionally I get passed by tippers doing 40mph and even if they move into the opposite lane (as generally they do) the buffeting in the slipstream is monumental. It's like riding past a gap in a hedge in a crosswind

 

A machine itself doesn't kill, somebody has to be ultimately  responsible IMO, be it the driver or the training (or lack of), I don't think you can 100% blame the designer.  A gun is potentionally deadly but a human has to pull the trigger and IMO you can't blame Gatling, Colt, Kalashinikov etc for all the people killed by their designs.  Whilst far from ideal your tipper drivers (probably through training) are taking steps to mitigate things a bit.

 

You can blame the designer. It is a design fault and not something that you could expect the driver to be aware of. The coach was poorly designed without taking in to account the environment it was to be used in, i.e. not fit for purpose.

There can be quite a drag. Take a look at what happens to a heavily loaded buggy (no child in it this time fortunatly) when a train passes.

https://www.rssb.co.uk/News/Pages/parents-alerted-to-pushchair-risk-on-p...

 

Design needs to be looked at to take account of all relavent information, including issues like this.

Avatar
HLaB replied to John Smith | 6 years ago
0 likes

John Smith wrote:

HLaB wrote:

kil0ran wrote:
HLaB wrote:

Fair enough about the vehicle design being poor but was the driving not poor in not compensating for it 7

I doubt you'd be aware as a driver, unlikely to be part of standard training. Occasionally I get passed by tippers doing 40mph and even if they move into the opposite lane (as generally they do) the buffeting in the slipstream is monumental. It's like riding past a gap in a hedge in a crosswind

 

A machine itself doesn't kill, somebody has to be ultimately  responsible IMO, be it the driver or the training (or lack of), I don't think you can 100% blame the designer.  A gun is potentionally deadly but a human has to pull the trigger and IMO you can't blame Gatling, Colt, Kalashinikov etc for all the people killed by their designs.  Whilst far from ideal your tipper drivers (probably through training) are taking steps to mitigate things a bit.

 

You can blame the designer. It is a design fault and not something that you could expect the driver to be aware of. The coach was poorly designed without taking in to account the environment it was to be used in, i.e. not fit for purpose.

There can be quite a drag. Take a look at what happens to a heavily loaded buggy (no child in it this time fortunatly) when a train passes.

https://www.rssb.co.uk/News/Pages/parents-alerted-to-pushchair-risk-on-p...

 

Design needs to be looked at to take account of all relavent information, including issues like this.

 

Yes I agree that the designer is responsible to some degree but not fully IMO there must be some responsibility on the user, again thats IMO 3

Avatar
Eton Rifle | 6 years ago
3 likes

Poor kids. Bad enough losing one parent.

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
2 likes

Frightening.

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