Sometimes when groups of motorcyclists ride together, the group can be kind of large, and they can only travel as fast as the slowest person in the group, which can be pretty slow.

If they mosey along in one huge group, it creates a dangerous situation on a two lane road. This should be part of motorcycle safety training (I used to be a certified Motorcycle Safety Foundation safety instructor) in MSF courses.

The danger occurs when somebody wants to pass this slow-moving "train" of motorcycles. The passing vehicle has two choices: follow the motorcycles at a snail's pace, or go for it and pass a 500 foot long obstacle.

If the motorcycles were spaced farther apart, a passing vehicle could pick them off one at a time. Well, that's not going to happen, because the group would lose track of the riders at the back with such huge gaps between them.

The motorcycle riders should learn to break the whole group into subgroups of two, three or four motorcycles, let's say, with four second gaps between them. This would allow faster vehicles to pass each subgroup and make their way past the whole group safely.

Police are searching for the driver of a car who tried to pass a group of about a dozen motorcyclists near Ocotillo Wells, CA. He was heading eastbound. An oncoming car ran off the road to avoid him, then got sideways on the shoulder of the road, then hooked up as he was getting back on the pavement, which drifted him into the group of oncoming motorcycle riders, killing four of them, injuring others, and killing one occupant of the car. The driver of the car that caused the accident is still at large.

It's horrible that five people died when a driver tried to make a dangerous pass. Even though that's true, we have to look at the situation and realize that a desperate driver is going to be in a hurry, and when faced with a lollygagging group of motorcycles that are not in a big hurry to get places, that desperate driver is forced to make a daredevil pass. The motorcycle riders are innocent. They might not realize they've become a huge obstacle in the road, they're just riding. It would help if they were educated about this phenomenon and had coping strategies, such as breaking the whole group into subgroups, to avoid this very situation.

We try to be courteous riders. We try to put forth a positive image of motorcycling. It would further this cause if groups of motorcyclists would help other motorists by breaking up the rolling roadblocks into "passable" subgroups.

Here's an article about the crash: Car driver causes crash that kills five people

JA