Group Riding

I enjoyed the latest article in the BMW Owners News about group riding but there was one question I had that wasn’t addressed. If you are in a group at a four way stop and other vehicles are at their stops, does the group follow the leader on his turn or does each rider have to wait for their turn? TIA.

Follow State Laws. Just because you are in a group ride this does not give the group the right of ways at intersection. Everyone should have idea of the directions, meet up points if the group gets split up. I have rode with groups that believed they could shut down intersections because they were part of large group. That was the last time I rode with that group.

vetbmwrider said:

Follow State Laws. Just because you are in a group ride this does not give the group the right of ways at intersection. Everyone should have idea of the directions, meet up points if the group gets split up. I have rode with groups that believed they could shut down intersections because they were part of large group. That was the last time I rode with that group.

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Unless you’re at the Sturgis Rally. Then groups seem to have carte blanche at intersections.

Many times when I've been riding in a group of 6 or so and we come to a 4-way stop, when it's our turn to go the car driver who is next up motions us to all go through. When that happens, we gladly do so and give a big friendly wave to the courteous driver. But, if the driver does not give us the go ahead signal, we proceed through one at a time per the traffic law.

akbeemer said:

Unless you’re at the Sturgis Rally. Then groups seem to have carte blanche at intersections.

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Pretty common when an event or special occasion takes over a city, town or municipal location. We have a fundraiser for Dana Farber that spans half of the state- https://www.pmc.org/routes-logistics
Everyone knows that it is coming and thousands of bikes will be on the road(s) yet there is whining about the bicycles “taking over” the streets and intersections.

OM

rogerc60 said:

Many times when I've been riding in a group of 6 or so and we come to a 4-way stop, when it's our turn to go the car driver who is next up motions us to all go through. When that happens, we gladly do so and give a big friendly wave to the courteous driver. But, if the driver does not give us the go ahead signal, we proceed through one at a time per the traffic law.

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This is how it's done.

If the car driver is NOT completely self centered and allows the group through, then he/she gets multiple signs of thanks and appreciation... making the "biker image" a little better in someone's eyes.

I the car driver IS self centered, he goes on about his day without having a "mean group of bikers" ruin his day with a 10 second delay... at a minimum, NOT making the "biker image" worse in someone's eyes.

We aren't surrounded by a metal cage, so having cagers think we're OK people is a good thing... Hopefully they won't try to run us over next time they see a group of us at an intersection.

Thanks for the replies.

Riding with a group or solo, ride your own ride.

You are responsible for your own safety regardless of what other riders or drivers choose to do. If other riders you’re traveling with are traveling faster than you’re comfortable with or making unsafe passes or riding through intersections right, wrong or indifferently, it’s still your ride. Ride for yours and your passenger’s safety regardless of what the group is doing.

Older thread on group riding- https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?5608-Group-Riding-amp-The-Rubber-Band

OM