Group Riding
Basic Steps For Safe Group Riding
Group Riding Requires the Proper Discussions Avoids Risk Factors
Here are Some Basic Steps on How to Do it:
Stay staggered. Riding side by side eliminates half of the road for you if an animal or an object in the road or something crosses your path. If you, or him swerve, guess what, both of you are wiped out. You own the entire width of the road at highway speeds. Try to follow this rule at speeds of 25mph or above. Never swerve to avoid an animal, if you are moving in a straight line at impact, most likely you will not crash. You can slow your pace then speed up to fake the animal out, but he is trying to avoid you. Don’t tailgate those in front of you.
Stay tight together when approaching intersections, traffic, turns, or any time the possibility exists that a car can cut into your group and create high risk. On a freeway where traffic moves very swiftly, don’t lay back, you put the group and especially those behind you at risk by allowing traffic to weave in and out of the group. Stay with the pack, maybe you don’t want to do 65mph, but your much safer up with the pack. Remember, everybody in front of you is watching in their mirror to see that you are there. You should be just far enough back that the rider if front of you can see you in his mirror, so if he can’t see you, you are too close. At highway speeds, you own the entire width of the lane for your safety.
Give hand signals so that everybody knows what to do. Your passenger should be briefed on what proper hand signals are. Right turns are with the left arm up!
Stay in the center lane every chance you have or to the left in a two lane highway. 90 percent of accidents occur in the right lane or left lane. Risk factor again takes over. Remember, turning traffic, traffic pulling out, slowing down for that stop three blocks ahead, turning with no signal, slow pokes, snowbirds, kids, animals, trash cans, and drunk drivers all use the right lane. Watch for that driver that cuts across two or three lanes to make a left turn in front of you, this is how “T Bone” wrecks occur. Also be watching for the guy that goes straight from a turn lane. Always make left turns from the inside left lane.