RULES OF THE ROAD & SAFETY REPORT

Rules Of The Road

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1. STAGGERED FORMATION shall be the basic riding formation under normal conditions. (Other formations may be called for by the Road Captain based on traffic and road condition).
Riding Positions (during formation) Club formation is as follows
Road Captain and President
Vice President, Secretary
Treasurer, Chapter Directors, and Appointed Positions
Full Members
Probationary Members
Friends of the Blue Knights
Assistant Road Captains fall behind the other riders.
President - The President shall ride no further back than the number two position.
2. All Riders are to execute hand signals indicating their intentions of movements.
3. The Road Captain shall have the unchallenged authority over all rides
4. The Road Captain shall have the authority to post other Asst. Road Captains or regular members to an assigned position, including "Lead". In the absence of the Road Captain, all ride authority is transferred to the Asst. Road Captain. Should both Road Captains be absent the authority transfers to the highest-ranking Club Officer or senior member.
5. No ride will be officially sanctioned by Blue Knights, Chapter New York X without approval of the President or Road Captain. 6. Types of official sanctioned rides: a. "Club Rides" - Members of Blue Knights, Chapter XXXIV and family only. b. "Closed Rides" - Members of Blue Knights only (any chapter). c. "Open Rides" - Known guest of any Blue Knights Chapter member may participate b. President - The President shall ride no further back than the number two position.c. Assistant Road Captain - The Asst. Road Captain will normally ride in the next to last position (directly in front of the Tail Gunner), unless otherwise directed by the Road Captain. The Asst. Road Captain will (along with the Tail Gunner) be responsible holding the open lane pending a signaled lane change. He will assist any member that falls behind or breaks down and may summons assistance from other members as deemed necessary.d. Tail Gunner - This is not an "official" (or Officer) position with the club. Any member may be requested to serve as Tail Gunner. It is suggested that an experience group riding member "ride" in this position. This position is critical in keeping the rest of the group safe from traffic approaching from the rear and making safe lane changes.
e. Ride "Line up" Positions - The Road Captain, The President, full "color wearing" members, the Secretary, Treasurer, Chapter Directors, Appointed Positions, Members, Probationary members, and Friends of the Blue Knights (when applicable) and bringing up the rear will be the Asst. Road Captain and Tail Gunner. Once the ride begins you are to remain in your designated ride position sections for the remainder of the ride.
10. Pre-Ride Briefing - The Road Captain (or his designee) will give instructions to all riders regarding the destination, the duration of the ride, and identify the Asst. Road Captain and Tail Gunner. The Asst. Road Captain will conduct a "head count" before each ride to obtain a total number of riders (including passengers) and again upon reaching the destination to ensure that all bikes are riders are accounted for.
11. Common Sense Is the RULE. Each rider is fully responsible for their own motorcycle. "Head checks" are a must behind initiating any movement within the group. "Err" on the side of caution.
12. All members are expected to learn safe, controlled riding techniques and procedures, as well as all applicable traffic laws.
13. ALERTNESS - Riders must remember that the Road Captain will be giving signals (both hand and mechanical) to execute specific maneuvers (i.e. slowing, stopping, turning, etc.). Each member's assistance in passing the signal back to the following members is paramount for completing safe maneuvers.
14. Leaving the Group - If any rider needs to stop (mechanical failure, etc) or "leave" the group, they are to inform Road Captain, the Asst. Road Captain or the nearest riding member. As soon as possible the Road Captain will be notified. If the stop is unplanned (mechanical problem) the Road Captain will bring the group to a stop at the earliest and safest location. Members designated by the Road Captain will return to assist the stopped rider. The Road Captain will make the decision to continue the ride, only after arrangements have been made for the stopped rider and his motorcycle.
If a rider "plans" on leaving the group early, they are to inform the Road Captain prior to the departure of the group.
15. Gas Stops - Every rider is expected to know the cruising capacity of their motorcycle's gas tank. All riders are to arrive at the ride's starting point with a full tank of gas.
16. Strict adherence to these rules, the rules of safe riding will help to provide for a successful riding adventure!
Hand Arm Signals
1. STOP: Left hand, extended downward with palm facing backward.
2. RIGHT TURN: Left arm, extended upright with hand extended.
3. LEFT TURN: Left arm, extended straight out with hand extended.
4. TURN AROUND: Left arm, extended upright with hand, rotating in a circular motion. This is used for group riding as well as signaling an individual rider approaching.
5. SINGLE FILE RIDING: Left arm, extended upright with index finger pointed up. Used for narrow, winding roads, road obstruction and hazards.
6. CLOSE UP FORMATION: Left arm, extended upright and moved in an up/down motion (pumping) with fist closed. Used to tighten up or close riding formation, catch up and stay close. The R/C will use this to execute a group maneuver.
7. ROAD HAZARD: Pointing downward, with either hand, in the direction of the hazard. Used to warn fellow riders of potholes and debris in the road.
8. STAGGERED RIDING: Left arm, extended upright and four fingers, extended, waving side to side. Used on open roads and where there are a lot of turns. This style allows the rider some leeway for drifting and is our preferred style.
9. DUAL RIDING: Left arm, extended upright and two fingers, extended in a "V". Used for two abreast where permitted.
10. FUEL: Pointing to your gas tank means you have switched to your reserve tank. Blow your horn to alert the R/C.
11. OTHER: Left arm, extended straight out with hand waving back and forth means come up to me or pass me.
 

http://www.motorcycle.com/rider-safety/knowing-how-to-brake-saves-the-most-lives-88119.html

Group Riding – “Size Matters” Rubber Band Effect By: James R. Davis
While most of us know that it takes about 1 second to recognize and begin to react to a threat ahead of us, it usually takes from 2 to 3 seconds for riders to recognize and begin to react to a change in speed (increase) of the bike in front of them when they are riding in a group. A couple of seconds doesn't sound like much, I'm sure, but while at 2 seconds a small group of bikes can usually manage rather well, at 3 seconds some serious problems result. This is particularly true if there are more than six bikes in the group. The following, I hope, will convince those of you that lead group rides to behave with new caution. At 60 MPH your bike moves 88 feet per second. Assuming that you maintain a 1-second gap between bikes in the group then each is about 88 feet behind the next one. At 70 MPH the gaps would be about 103 feet. A trivial example first - let's say that the lead bike increases speed from 60 MPH to 70 MPH. It takes about 2 seconds to do so if you are casual about it (using an acceleration rate of 7.5 fps/s) though you could do it in half that time. What happens to all the bikes behind that lead bike? Most people, I assume, think that each will, in turn, simply follow suit. That is, each will also accelerate modestly at the rate of about 7.5 fps/s (5 MPH/Sec) and, thus, maintain 'the group'. That is not at all what actually happens. After the first second of modest acceleration by the lead bike the distance between the second bike and the first one has grown from 88 feet to 92 feet and one second later the gap has become 103 feet. By coincidence this is exactly what the new distance between bikes should be while riding at 70 MPH. However, the second bike has not yet even begun to accelerate and is now moving 10 MPH slower than the bike ahead of it. It follows, of course, that the gap between the bikes will continue to grow until the second bike is also moving at 70 MPH - 2 or 3 seconds later. That is, if the second bike realizes that the first one is pulling away from him and begins to accelerate his own bike within only 2 seconds then he too will be traveling at 70 MPH within another 2 seconds. If it takes him 3 seconds to recognize a widening gap and react to it then it will take another 2 seconds for his speed to match the bike ahead of him.

In the best case (2 second react/respond time) the gap between the bikes will have grown to 117 feet, and if it took 3 seconds that gap would have grown to 132 feet. Clearly once the speeds are the same the gaps will remain the same. BUT, since the group prefers to travel with a 'one second' gap between bikes, the second bike MUST GO FASTER than the first one for a brief time in order to 'catch up.' If we assume that the riders in this group are conservative and individually elect never to travel more than 5 MPH faster than the bike ahead of them as they are closing their gaps then the second bike will continue to accelerate for 1 additional second and attain a speed of 75 MPH while the first one continues at 70 MPH. In fact, the second bike will have to ride for TWO SECONDS at 75 MPH while the first one rides at 70 MPH in order to close the gap to 106 feet, and then he takes 1 more second decelerating to 70 MPH during which the gap between them reduces itself to the desired 103 feet. This little example of the dynamics between just two bikes is trivial in consequence and easy to understand. With modest effort it can be seen, however, to be anything but trivial farther back in the pack. Let's look at the third bike in the group. About 2 seconds after the SECOND bike begins to accelerate the third one follows suit. Three seconds later the gap between the second and third bike has, as expected, become 117 feet. But, because the second bike is traveling at 75 MPH at that time rather than 70 MPH like the first bike, the gap continues to widen and within one more second becomes 128 feet. Clearly the third bike must use more effort to catch up to the second bike than the second bike needed to catch up with the lead bike. Indeed, the third bike will have to accelerate to 75 MPH and will have to maintain that speed for FOUR SECONDS instead of the two required by the second bike in order to close up that gap. WORSE, the next bike will find that the gap he has to close has grown to 132 feet before it begins to shorten and then ONLY IF HE ACCELERATES TO 80 MPH instead of 75. This, because the third bike is traveling at 75 MPH rather than 70 MPH when the gap has reached 132 feet. The gap would be larger still if bike number four merely accelerates to 75 MPH. In a group of only six motorcycles, the last one will find the gap between himself and bike number five to grow to 143 feet before it begins to close. He will have to accelerate to 80 MPH, hold that speed for three seconds, drop to 75 MPH for an additional three seconds, and then finally drop to the group speed of 70 MPH in order for all members of the group to end up with a 1-second gap between them. Further, it will be at least 11 seconds after the lead bike has started to accelerate before the sixth bike does so. Imagine what will happen if during that time the lead bike applies his brakes in anticipation of entering a curve!!!!!!!!! Though this was a trivial example it demonstrates very well what we have all experienced in the past - the 'rubber band' effect. Imagine how PROFOUND this effect becomes when the example changes. For example, imagine what happens at the end of a string of 20 bikes rather than only 6. Or what happens if the lead bike, upon exiting a 35 MPH curve, gooses his bike to 60 MPH as fast as it can get there.

There are things that tend to mitigate these problems:
• Lead bikes can change speed more gradually.
• Lead bikes can announce speed changes over the CB and, thus, reduce reaction times for all.
• All bikes in a group can react to changes in speed of bikes that are farther ahead of them than just the one immediately ahead.
• The members of a group can simply NOT crank their throttles up to excessive speeds just to keep the group spacing 'correct'.
• A good group leader does NOT accelerate within 15 seconds of entering a curve (assuming he has to then slow down before actually entering that curve.)
• The '1-second between bikes' rule should be abandoned whenever the group is riding 'twisties' - it makes sense only when traveling in a straight line on open highway.
• Never allow a group to become larger than SIX bikes if even one of the riders is inexperienced with group riding. Never larger than EIGHT bikes even if all are familiar with the riding habits of each other.
If you think that the 'rubber band' effect is a problem when accelerating think of what happens during braking!!