I am a member of the EZ Riders Scooter Club which is a pretty big scooter club with groups throughout the country. For all ride we hope that each person is familiar with the rules. The ride leader gives a brief safety talk before starting out.
This is pretty long but worth reading;
EZ Riders Scooter Club Riding Safety Guidelines
It’s important that every EZ Riders Scooter Club rider read and understand this completely!
A group ride is normally composed of a Ride Leader (Leader) and (sometimes) a Sweeper, bringing up the rear.
Staggered (normal) formation
Normal group is done in a staggered formation. Basically, this is dividing a lane in half with each rider occupying his/her own half of the lane. It is your responsibility to ride in the half of the lane as determined by the rider in front of you. For example, if the rider in front of you is riding in the center of the right half of the lane, you would ride in the left half, the rider behind in the right, etc. If the rider in front needs to change lane halves to maintain the stagger, then you must change lane position, and so on down the line. The Leader usually starts the stagger in the left half position. While in staggered group riding, the normal stagger distance is 1–2 seconds, and no more than a 3â€second gap, in order to maintain a tight formation and not allow traffic to interrupt and break it up. This means that you should be 2–3 seconds behind the rider who is directly in front of you and using the same half of the lane. When coming to a stop, the group generally forms up two abreast (side by side). When the group starts off again, the rider on the left starts first.
Second rider note: One problem that occurs with staggered formation is that the second rider (to the Leader’s right), having no one in front, tends to creep up until he or she has overlapped with the Leader. This means that the Leader, when needing to dodge to the right, may hit the second rider, resulting in a disaster instead of a minor annoyance. Keep your spacing!
Singleâ€file formation (no stagger)
Riding in single file, without a stagger, allows the riders more freedom to negotiate curves and dodge obstacles while having the freedom to use the whole lane. It also allows for a more leisurely pace, with time to look at the scenery. Therefore, we will ride in a single file in these situations:
• When riding on curvy, narrow, unpaved, and narrow back roads.
• When turning at intersections.
• When there is an obstruction on the side of the road, such as a person or people or (in farm country) cattle or horses.
Changes in formation (stagger to single file, and vice versa) is dictated by the Leader. Holding two fingers in a sort of Victory sign indicates a staggered formation, while the index finger pointing straight up in the air is the signal for single file riding. The only exception is that the Leader will not normally signal for single file riding when turning at intersections—this should always be done. In single formation the normal distance between riders is increased to 3–5 seconds (and 10 seconds on unpaved roads). For safety, distance in a single file formation should not be so long that you can’t see the rider in front of you. There are two reasons for this:
1. It is much easier to negotiate around corners by using the next rider’s position to “see†further around blind curves.
2. The rider can see and pass back hand signals indicating obstacles or other information ahead.
Note that in the presence of horses and riders on the road, or to the side of the road, speed will be dropped to almost a walking pace as well as going single file. Sudden slowing for safety will be indicated by the left hand making pushing down motions, as if asking a car passing your kids to slow down. Horses can be easily spooked with resulting danger to both rider and bike. Slow bikes don’t usually spook horses. If you feel that the group pace is too fast, then motion the bikes behind to pass until the only one left following is the Sweeper.
Then ride at your own pace until the next stop, when you should inform the Leader that you are uncomfortable with the pace. The Leader will decide to either separate the ride into two groups, or go at a slower pace so that all members of the group feel secure.
Group riding is NOT a race!
Maintaining the formation
If a rider in the formation needs to pull out for any reason, the group should close up the gap and reorganize the stagger. Please do not pull off, also, unless you need to do so. The Sweeper will aid the rider who has pulled over. The next (last) rider then becomes the Sweeper of the lead group until the Sweeper returns to the group. When turning onto another road, if the next rider back cannot be seen, either due to having traffic inâ€between, or a large enough gap in the group for any reason, the last rider in the line must wait at the turn for the next rider to show up before leaving the turn so as to signal that the route has taken a turn. This will keep the group together on the same route even though there may be unforeseen gaps in the formation.If not all bikes are able to get through a traffic light, the riders stuck at the light should signal the riders in front by beeping their horns (two beeps), with the horn signal passed forward to the group leader. The forward riders pull over as far over to the right side of the road as possible and wait for the rest of the group. When the Sweeper is through the light, he or she signals with several short horn beeps, and that signal is forwarded ahead. If the leader signals that the group should all pull over to the side of the road—with the left arm over the head pointing to the right—all riders should position themselves as far to the right of the shoulder as possible, while the leader’s position will not be as extreme, so the leader can have a good rear view of the riders and can more easily determine when it would be safe for the group to resume riding on the road.
Sweeper – Broken Bike
The broken bike procedure is for the entire group to pull over and try to fix the bike within 10 minutes; if the problem cannot be fixed in that time, the rest of the group carries on with the ride, asking for a volunteer to stay and support the rider with the broken bike—call for a tow, give the rider to wherever they need to go, etc. If the Sweeper volunteers, another rider will be appointed Sweeper.
Passage of Information through Signals:
During the ride, the Leader will make various hand and leg signals. These signals indicate lane changes or turns, obstacles, increasing/decreasing speed, or whether to form a stagger formation or a single line. These hand signals must be passed back through the group, from the front rider to the next rider in line. That way each rider only needs to be aware of signals from the rider directly in front of him/her rather than everyone trying to keep an eye on the Ride Leader.
• Emergency stop (most important signal): Left hand folded into a fist on top of the helmet.
• Nonâ€emergency stop: Left arm held straight out to the elbow while the rest of the arm points straight up.
• Obstacles: An outstretched left or right leg, indicating which side of the lane the obstacle is located. If you spot an obstacle in the road, immediately signal to the riders behind you so they have the best opportunity to dodge them. Some typical obstacles that should be signaled as to where they may lie in the lane are: sand/dirt/gravel/rocks, potholes, dead animals, road dragons (pieces of truck tire treads), vehicular debris, tar snakes (road tar repairs), etc. Remember that the riders towards the rear in a group ride will not be able to see as much of the whole road surface as those in front due to the visual blockage of the front riders.
• Rider forgets to turn blinker off: If the rider is in FRONT of you, beep your horn twice (very short beeps), then hold your left arm straight out to the left, with your four fingers parallel to the road and your thumb hanging down. Then open and close your fingers in time to the flashing signal.
To tell a rider BEHIND you that their blinker light is on unnecessarily, give the handle signal above, but do not beep your horn.
• Group behind must pull over to the side of the road: Left arm over the helmet, pointing to the right, repeated as often as necessary. All bikes except the Sweeper should line up as far to the right as possible so that the Leader can more easily see the Sweeper bike when it arrives.
When stopped, the ride leader may or may not dismount to be able to see behind more easily. Other riders should either stay mounted or if they feel the need to dismount do so only when safe to do so and immediately move to the right side of the bike if possible. Remember, dismounting and getting hit by a car will spoil the whole ride.
• Police car in area, warning approaching cyclists to slow down: Either the left fist put on top of the helmet and moved up and down or the open hand patting the top of the helmet. If you see either of these on your dayâ€toâ€day riding, it either means a police car is coming or you’re about to go thru a speed trap.
Conclusion
Group riding can be a lot of fun if all the members are comfortable within the group. If one or more members of the group are not comfortable, then this should be discussed at the next stop so as to accommodate or correct the cause of the problem. It's very easy to take each problem and, with a little tact, to teach whomever might not have a sufficient understanding of our group riding rules.
