Star Touring & Riding Association
Road Safety Guidelines
The purpose of riding in an organized group instead of an undisciplined pack is
the additional safety that a well-organized group inherently generates. This
comes from within the group and from the outside. When a group rides in an
orderly fashion, people don't get in each other's way, and the organization of
the formation itself discourages cars from attempting to cut in. I have even
seen trucks move to the far side of their lane to minimize wind blast when they
see a well-ordered formation.
Once riding rules have been adopted by a club, EVERYONE riding with the club is
expected to follow them. Anyone violating the rules, and compromising everyone
else's safety, will be warned, and if their actions continue, will no longer be
welcome to the ride with the club.
The following rules are compiled from a number of sources. Most clubs that
ride in orderly formations follow similar rules. Details may vary from one
club to another, sometimes because of the style of riding they do, or sometimes
because there are a number of reasonable options, so they chose the one that
they prefer.
1. Formation
Riding will be in a standard staggered formation unless the leader calls for
single file. In staggered formation, the bikes form two columns, with the leader
at the head of either the right or left column. as he chooses. The second bike
will head the opposite, and will ride approximately one second behind the leader
(and in the opposite side of the lane). The other riders will position their
bikes two seconds behind the bike directly in front of them, which puts them one
second behind the diagonal bike. This allows ample time for any quick maneuvers
or hard breaking should such occur. This formation allows each rider sufficient
safety space, and discourages other vehicles from cutting into the line.
2. Ride Leader
The Ride leader is responsible for the safety of the entire formation. He must
be aware of the length of the columns, and must gauge the passing of merges,
highway entrances and exits, etc., to allow for maximum safety and keeping the
group together. He must make sure that he leaves enough time/space for the
formation to get into the appropriate lanes before exits, etc.
All direction comes from the Ride Leader. The Ride Leader makes all decisions
regarding lane changes, stopping for breaks and fuel, closing of gaps, turning
off at exits, any concerns of what lies ahead, accepting/rejecting radioed
messages from other individuals, and so on. NO individual will assert himself
independently without direction from the Ride Leader to do so.
3. Tail Gunner
The Tail Gunner serves as the eyes of the Ride Leader. He watches the formation,
and informs the Ride Leader of any potential problems within the group. He
watches other vehicles, and informs the Ride Leader (and anyone else with
radios) of hazardous conditions approaching from the rear, such as vehicles
trying to cut into the formation and trucks passing with potentially dangerous
wind blasts. He will watch for merging lanes, and will move into a merging lane
(or stay in a merging lane just vacated by the group) in order to "close the
door" on other vehicles that may otherwise find themselves trying to merge into
the formation. At the Ride Leader's request, the Tail Gunner changes lanes
before the formation, to secure the lane so the formation can move into it.
4. New Riders
The position of new (inexperienced with GROUP riding) riders within the group is
significant. New riders should be positioned as close to the front as
possible.
5. Lane Changes
All lane changes start with a radio request from the Ride Leader to the Tail
Gunner. The Tail Gunner will (when it is safe to do so) move into the
requested lane and will inform the Ride Leader when the lane is clear.
At this point, the Ride Leader has three options:
A. Simple lane changes
This is an ordinary lane change, and can be used in most situations. After the
Tail Gunner has secured the new lane, the Ride Leader will put on his
directional signal as an indication the he is about to order a lane change. As
each rider sees the directional signal, he also turns on his signal, so the
riders following him get the signal. the leader then initiates the change.
All other riders change lanes too. The important concept is that NO ONE moves
until the bike in front of him has started moving.
B. Block Lane Change
This can be used interchangeably with the Simple Lane Change. It requires a
little more work, but it is well worth the effort. It's quite impressive to
watch, and gives the riders a tremendous feeling of quot;togetherness". This
sounds a little complicated, but is actually very simple to do.
After the Tail Gunner has secured the new lane, the Ride Leader will put on his
directional signal as an indication that he is about to order a lane change.
As each rider sees the directional signal, he also turns his on, so the riders
following him get the signal. the leader then raises his left arm straight up.
Each rider repeats this signal. Then, as the leader lowers his arm to point
to the lane into which he's moving, he actually initiates the change. All
other riders lower their arms at the same time and change lanes too. This
allows the entire formation to move from one lane to another as a single block.
C. Rear Fill-in
This is sometimes necessary if a long enough gap cannot be maintained in the new
lane, for example when trying to move from the right lane to the center and
vehicles from the left lane keep cutting into the opening.
After the Tail Gunner has secured the new lane, the leader (usually at the
suggestion of the Tail Gunner) will call for the group to fill in the space from
the rear. He signals this by raising his hand to shoulder height and "pushing"
it towards the new lane. All riders repeat the signal, and the last bikes move
into the space in the new lane ahead of the Tail Gunner, then the next-to-last
bikes move in ahead of those, and so on until the Ride Leader finally moves into
the space ahead on the entire formation.
6. Emergencies
In the unlikely event of an emergency situation, the Ride Leader will make every
attempt to move the formation to the shoulder in an orderly manner. If a bike
breaks down, let the rider move to the right. DO NOT STOP. The Tail Gunner will
stop with the problem bike. The Ride Leader will lead the group to a safe
place.
7. Toll
The Ride Leader should be aware of tolls and collect money from all riders in
advance. When the formation arrives at the booth, the Ride Leader pays for all
bikes to proceed through the toll. Many toll booths have counters that count
the number of vehicles coming through. To accommodate these, ride through the
toll booth one at a time.
If some people in the group are using FastTrack, they will split out from the
group, and the formation will reform on the other side of the toll booth. Make
sure the Ride Leader knows in advance how many bikes he is paying the toll for.
8. Hand Signals
Each rider (and passenger) should duplicate all hand signals given by the rider
in front of him, so that the signals get passed all the way to the back of the
formation. The following signals are used in addition to the standard (right
turn, left turn, slow/stop) hand signal.
Block Lane Change
The Ride Leader (after having the Tail Gunner secure the lane) raises his left
arm straight up. Each rider repeats this signal. Then, as the leader lowers
his arm to point to the lane into which he's moving, he actually initiates the
change. All other riders lower their arms at the same time and change lanes
too.
Fill in from rear
After having the Tail Gunner secure the lane and putting on his directional
signal (which is repeated by each rider), the Ride Leader raises his left hand
to his shoulder and "pushes" his open hand toward the lane into which he wants
to move. This signal is repeated by all riders, and each rider in turn,
rearmost first, moves into the space ahead of the riders behind them.
Single up
When conditions warrant single file (narrow road, anticipated wind blast from
trucks, obstruction, pedestrians, etc.) the Ride Leader will raise his left hand
straight up, holding up just his index finger. All other riders will repeat
this, and the two columns will merge into one.
Staggered Formation
After singling up, when single file is no longer necessary, the Ride Leader will
raise his left hand with the thumb and pinky out, other fingers closed, rotating
his wrist back and forth (indicating left, right, left, right). All other
riders will repeat this and resume staggered formation.
Tighten Formation
When the Ride Leader thinks that the formation should be tighter (bikes closer
together) (usually after being informed by the Tail Gunner), he raises his left
hand with fingers spread wide and repeatedly close them into a fist. All other
riders repeat this and close up all unnecessary space in the formation.
Road Hazard
This is the one signal that can be initiated by ANYONE. Anyone seeing a
hazardous condition on the road surface (roadkill, oil, gravel, significant
pothole, etc,) will point at it. All following riders will repeat this, and
all riders will point at the hazard.
Starting of the ride
About five minutes before departing on the ride all riders start mounting their
bikes and prepare for the ride. Riders of each group must know where the
group will be stopping for a rest and how long the ride will be. It is always
a good idea to go over hand signals with all those participating in a group ride
and make sure that everyone understands them.
Link to hand signals can be found here.. hand signals