Motorcyclists face greater risks and vulnerabilities compared to other motorists, and motorcycle crash cases represent a unique intersection of science, human behavior, and standard of motorcycle operator care. This CLE presents an impactful approach to evaluating motorcycle crashes in terms of motorcycle safety and standard of care principles. The motorcyclist standard of care practice seeks to understand factors that contribute to crashes, including operator preparedness, motorcycle condition, operator and motorcycle roadway positioning, speed, and response to circumstances of various kinds. This analysis also often considers whether and how operator actions and inactions align with a reasonable and prudent standard outlined in professional motorcycle operator training programs and state operator licensing guidelines. This CLE also discusses how this approach can be combined with human factors analysis to help attorneys and triers of fact alike more fully understand how a given crash unfolded. Whether representing municipalities, manufacturers, or other involved parties, legal professionals stand to gain valuable insights into assessing liability, working with standard of care experts, and navigating the complexities of motorcycle-related claims.
Chason Coelho, PhD, CSP, CFI
Dr. Coelho is a human factors, safety, and risk management professional with experience in several industries, including aviation, aerospace, on-shore and off-shore oil and gas, chemical, marine, mining, construction, manufacturing, utilities, wind, and rail transport. A cognitive neuroscientist whose research has focused on human motor control, he applies a uniquely interdisciplinary expertise in cognitive and physical behavior to issues such as warnings and labels, industrial and public safety, human error and reliability, decision making, safety in design, human-machine interfacing, and ergonomics.
Dr. Coelho addresses human performance in operations, maintenance, emergency, and public contexts. He also provides expert analysis and testimony in cases involving premises liability, personal injury, international arbitration, and product liability, among others. Dr. Coelho is a Team Oregon motorcycle safety instructor and avid motorcyclist, was a motorcycle safety instructor in Washington State, and has published and presented on motorcycle safety. Relatedly, he routinely evaluates incidents involving motorcycle safety and operator standard of care issues. Dr. Coelho is also a private pilot, certified forklift trainer, and certified traffic control flagger and provides expert human factors and safety analysis and testimony in cases involving aircraft mishaps, forklift incidents, and road construction zone incidents.
With his extensive experience in risk management, Dr. Coelho has conducted a variety of risk analyses aimed at reducing human error through incorporating human factors principles in design, policies, procedures, hardware, software, work environments, and team resource management. He also specializes in root cause analyses and incident investigations with respect to human performance gaps involved in adverse events such as explosions, fires, chemical releases, and major equipment failures.
Dr. Coelho is a published subject matter expert on multiple human performance topics, including action selection, manual object manipulation, handedness, hand choice, lateralized performance asymmetries of the arms, coordination of walking, standing, and reaching behaviors, decision making, learning, visual object recognition, human fatigue risk management, risk perception, motorcycle safety, and warnings. He holds a Certified Safety Professional (CSP) designation from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals, a Certified Fire Investigator (CFI) designation from the Texas Commission on Fire Protection, and a Safety Practice Certificate from Texas A&M University for advanced training in a variety of safety topics. Dr. Coelho is authorized to teach the 10- and 30-hour Outreach Courses in both OSHA General Industry and Construction Safety and Health Standards. He also has experience as a volunteer firefighter, technical and confined space rescuer, vehicle extrication technician, and emergency medical technician.
Dr. Coelho is practiced at evaluating compliance with regulatory requirements, including those set forth by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and others. He is also experienced at assessing conformance with industry consensus standards, including those published by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and others.
Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Coelho conducted his doctoral research at Pennsylvania State University after completing an internship at the University of Chicago and an undergraduate program with an emphasis in learning, memory, and cognition at UCLA. He started his applied professional career as a human factors design engineer supporting the International Space Station Program at NASA Johnson Space Center.
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