Safe Group Riding: Part 1

By Ben Harper, ISRA #12795

Of all the commonalities we motorcyclists share, one of the most important--indeed critical--commonalities is our concern for our safety on the road. We all want to get home alive and healthy, so as to repeat the adventure on a later date. In spite of that concern, however, most of us would be shocked to learn how little most of us really know about ride safety, particularly in group situations.
Furthermore, few riding associations currently have a comprehensive ride safety training program. In other words, how you ride when you arrive will probably be how you ride during your membership in whatever group, association, or club that you have joined. Although most associations have minimal ride leadership, there is usually no program to train riders in the practice of group riding, and no association currently mandates safety training for its ride leaders. This process often has unfortunate consequences, such as accidents, lack of rider development, loss of membership, and so on.

Also, it is amazing how resistant many riders are to further education on riding. Many of your friends probably feel there is "nothing to teach them." These are also the hardest people to re-train, so be prepared for this. One stubborn individual can ruin the best ride for everyone, and this sometimes requires draconian actions to resolve, but resolved it must be, for one individual can ruin the best program if given the opportunity.

By initiating and maintaining a comprehensive rider safety program, you can improve the safety of the group, increase individual awareness of both their own riding styles and the abilities of others around them, and give your Constellation another big recruiting tool. With many former riders returning to the sport after a long hiatus and many new riders eager to join an association, the benefits of a safety program are obvious and compelling.

We, the membership of Rocky Mountain Dark Star, have built a training program that any Constellation can master. It is based on several ride safety programs, including, but not limited to:

• The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) basic and advanced rider safety courses
• The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) group rider safety course
• The ride program of the Star Touring & Riding Association
• The ride safety programs of various state police agencies

Together, these sources provide the foundation for our program. Once implemented, this program will increase your ride safety and enjoyment, as well as impress both your membership and observers as you roll down the road in tight formation.

Two-Second Rule
One of the first concepts to learn is the so-called "Two-Second Rule." Simply put, we ride in a staggered formation, riding two seconds behind the rider directly in front of you, and one second behind the rider in the alternate column. In this formation, a rider can easily avoid any sudden problem that the riders in front may encounter. It also allows emergency stops in the event of a breakdown, flat tire, and so on.

To practice this technique, a rider simply has to observe any marker on the road or side of the road. As the rider in front of you passes the marker (a signpost, pavement crack, roadkill, and so on), you count, "One thousand one, one thousand two." If your tire crosses the imaginary line at the marker before you are done counting, you're too close. If you count further than "two" before you cross the line, you're too far back. Any rider can constantly re-check his or her position with this method and maintain a proper distance from other riders in the formation.

This technique allows groups of all sizes to comfortably maintain group integrity with any group size. This becomes very important on multi-lane highways and freeways, where other drivers are not always courteous. The better your group can maintain a formation of riders, the less often drivers are likely to cut into your formation, which minimizes the odds of an accident.

This technique can be improved with careful, steady riding on the part of the ride captain. By pulling away from stops in a slow, deliberate manner, the group can better maintain the integrity of the formation. The same holds true for lane changes and stops.

In subsequent articles, I will discuss ride leader training in detail. For the present, mastering the "two-second rule" is a good beginning to a safety program that will sustain your membership and improve the safety of your group and others around you.