Safety Gear and Group Riding
Michael A Romero
Safety Officer, AZ VI

I am writing this as a reminder to all of us about safety gear and riding in groups.  I am sure we are all familiar with proper safety gear but that is where I will start.  

When you ride, you should not only wear but also check your safety gear to ensure it is in good working condition.  Seems simple but I am always amazed at the large number of riders that only wear some gear and not other and the poor condition of their gear.

The obvious piece of gear is a helmet.  It needs to meet a minimum standard of DOT.  A step up is a SNELL approved helmet. All SNELL rated helmets meet DOT standards but not all DOT approved helmets are SNELL rated.  If you don’t know the difference between the two, except for the much higher price of a SNELL approved helmet vs a DOT approved one, the difference is that a DOT approved helmet is rated to only function for one impact while the SNELL rated helmet is made to withstand two impacts on the same spot.  That’s not to say that as long as you have impacts in different areas of a SNELL helmet you should continue to wear it.  In fact, if you have one impact on your helmet, regardless of the rating, I would strongly suggest replacing it.  This would include dropping your helmet.  If it “free falls” and hits the pavement it is considered an impact and you’d probably be better off getting a new helmet.  

There are several different styles of helmets out there and I’m sure we are all familiar with them so I won’t cover them here.  Just know you should have a helmet that minimally meets DOT standards.  Oh yeah, if your helmet is over five years old you should also think seriously about replacing it.  Helmets breakdown after time, not necessarily the outer shell, but the impact absorbing liner.  So be honest with yourself and replace those old helmets.

Long sleeved shirts or a jacket of some kind is also preferred.  This is true for a few reasons.  Long sleeves keep the sun and wind off your arms, they can provide a cooling effect depending on the material and they obviously offer an extra layer of protection should you go down.

Long pants: Self explanatory.  I will not go into the reasons you should wear long pants.

Eye Protection: Also self explanatory.  Sunglasses, goggles or a face shield attached to your helmet all make good eye protection.  Sunglasses being the least protective because they allow wind to get in behind the lenses which means the junk that’s blowing around in the air can also get into your eyes.

Full fingered motorcycle gloves: The fingerless version of motorcycle gloves offer padding on your hands, depending on which type you purchase but they certainly don’t provide any protection for your fingers, not when you go down and you reach out to break your fall or while you’re riding along and you get pelted by something in the air like the exhaust from the vehicle in front of you, gravel that vehicle may kick up, or a swarm of bugs you ride through.

Footwear: Sturdy over the ankle boots with a low heel and non skid soles are preferred.  Sneakers of any kind, loafers, boots with a leather sole, and yes, I’ve seen it and sure I’m you have too, sandals do not meet the needs for motorcycle riding.  

Motorcycle specific gear is far and away superior to anything you might already own and think it’ll “do the job” of protecting you properly while you ride.  Pants, shirts and jackets made specifically for riding are cut differently than non motorcycle specific clothes.  Aside from better protection, they will also be more comfortable as you ride.   The same holds true of motorcycle gloves versus gloves not made specifically for riding.

Take the time to examine the clothing/gear you wear for riding and determine if maybe you could and should replace some or all of it with motorcycle specific gear.  

Okay, so now I get to the group riding part.  I know we all ride at different levels and we all have our own “comfort zone” when riding in a group.  However, you need to think about the whole groups safety as well as your own when you choose to ride in a group.  I thought everyone knew that the standard formation for group riding is a staggered formation.  But I have recently witnessed riders taking the entire lane or riding directly behind the rider in front of them when there is no specific reason to do so. If you’re not familiar, that’s where one rider rides in either the left or right track of one lane and the rider behind them takes the opposite track.  There are situations where the staggered formation or even riding one of the tracks would not be the best choice but for normal riding conditions, this is the preferred and safest method.  

Now, what should the following distances be, you ask.  Well, the rider behind the lead rider in the opposite track should be no closer than one second behind that rider.  This holds true for the entire formation.  This puts the rider directly behind you a minimum of 2 seconds behind you and puts the rider directly in front of you two seconds ahead of you.  This distance is for when road and/or traffic conditions are ideal.  If they aren’t, then you should increase the distance to a safe following distance depending on the conditions you’re riding in.  This distance should also leave you with plenty of time to react to any situation that may arise and use whatever maneuver necessary to react and avoid an obstacle, crashing or whatever the situation may be.  I know some of you may not feel confident following that closely and riding in a tight group.  That’s ok to a point.  As I said these distances I stated are the minimum safe distances.  But I will say that stringing a group out into long distances can be unsafe for a variety of reasons. So you’d be doing yourself and everyone you ride with a big favor to work on your reaction time.  

This brings me to another point.  Using your cruise control when riding in a group.  Typically no motorcycle’s cruise control is exactly the same as another’s so if you’re not the lead rider, don’t use your cruise control.  Let me say that again, DO NOT USE YOUR CRUISE CONTROL UNLESS YOU ARE THE LEAD RIDER IN THE GROUP!  Using it when you aren’t means you will be messing with it the entire time you have it engaged, thus distracting you from what’s going on around you. From my experience, riders that use it when not the lead tend to either speed up and then have to back off or their cruise control is just slow enough compared to the lead rider that they slowly but surely increase their following distance from the rider ahead and then abruptly speed up to close that distance.  It’s annoying to every rider behind you plus not really safe to get strung way out.  

If you’re going to ride in a group, and that’s really what we are all about, do yourself and the rest of us a favor and work on your riding skills to be safest you can possibly be.  

Another consideration when riding in a group and it really is about “riding etiquette” if you will, is never holding the group up.  I understand sometimes things can’t be avoided and shit happens, but no one will say anything if it’s a rarity versus common practice for you.  If you’re gonna ride with the group, then do just that, ride with and for the group.  Gas up where the group stops to gas up.  If you join the group after the ride has already started, be sure you’re all gassed up and ready to go when they are.  

There are several other things I could have included and gone into detail about but I think this is a pretty good start to making our chapter rides more enjoyable for everyone involved.