08-20-2018, 05:25 AM
Good points, Rotor. Terms are important, though. "formation riding" can mean different things to different people.
Riding in a staggered formation with 2 second spacing is perfectly safe and is probably safer for the riders. Riding either staggered, but with short gaps or side by side is fraught with peril. The key, to me at least, is that the riders in the group understand that they are responsible for their own safety and should view riding in a group no differently than if they just happened to be riding in traffic with a bunch of other bikes traveling at the same rate of speed. That means that a rider would let a motorist (or a motorcyclist) move in just as they would if they were riding solo. I have not seen many (I actually don't recall ever seeing this) drivers that move into the middle of a group ride just to be in that lane; they do it because they are about to exit or to get out of the way of faster moving traffic in the vacated lane. Most of the preceding pertains to riding on 4+ lane highways.
In response to your "question" -- They aren't always morons. If you're on a two-lane and you can't pass them all, I think you should wait until they turn off or until you can pass them all. I am 90% sure that it's technically illegal to pass more than one vehicle at a time in the opposite lane, so your other choice, I guess, is to make 20 passes. That seems more dangerous to both riders and driver than waiting patiently or passing the whole lot.
I'm skipping around here a lot, but I think most ride organizers, with the exception of those organizing charity rides, worry about the pack mentality and some of the other things that concern you. I see more and more where the ride organizer splits the large group into small groups of 5-10 riders.
Riding in a staggered formation with 2 second spacing is perfectly safe and is probably safer for the riders. Riding either staggered, but with short gaps or side by side is fraught with peril. The key, to me at least, is that the riders in the group understand that they are responsible for their own safety and should view riding in a group no differently than if they just happened to be riding in traffic with a bunch of other bikes traveling at the same rate of speed. That means that a rider would let a motorist (or a motorcyclist) move in just as they would if they were riding solo. I have not seen many (I actually don't recall ever seeing this) drivers that move into the middle of a group ride just to be in that lane; they do it because they are about to exit or to get out of the way of faster moving traffic in the vacated lane. Most of the preceding pertains to riding on 4+ lane highways.
In response to your "question" -- They aren't always morons. If you're on a two-lane and you can't pass them all, I think you should wait until they turn off or until you can pass them all. I am 90% sure that it's technically illegal to pass more than one vehicle at a time in the opposite lane, so your other choice, I guess, is to make 20 passes. That seems more dangerous to both riders and driver than waiting patiently or passing the whole lot.
I'm skipping around here a lot, but I think most ride organizers, with the exception of those organizing charity rides, worry about the pack mentality and some of the other things that concern you. I see more and more where the ride organizer splits the large group into small groups of 5-10 riders.