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Road
Captain(s), Senior Road Captain, and Ride Captain
Definition
of Terms:
Road Captain:
A knowledgeable and experienced rider appointed by the Chapter President.
Senior Road Captain:
A specific Road Captain appointed by the Chapter President to
coordinate the actions of other Road Captains within the Chapter.
Ride Captain:
An approved Road Captain who has been designated by the Activities
Chairperson and/or Events Coordinator as the single individual
responsible for a specified activity or event.
General Information:
The role of
the Road Captain(s), Senior Road Captain, and Ride Captain is to
provide general support to the Chapter leadership and its members by
coordinating directly with the Activities Chairperson and/or Events
Coordinator as applicable, to plan for the safe, orderly, and
enjoyable ride route for a specific activity or event.
Based upon the
size of the Chapter's membership and/or the number of activities and
events being conducted, more than one individual may be appointed to
the position of "Road Captain". When there are
multiple "Road Captains" appointed, they will report to the
Senior Road Captain. The Senior Road Captain is appointed by
the Chapter President and may recommend others within the Chapter for
designation as "Road Captains".
Regardless of
the number of Road Captains within the Chapter, a single person from
this group will be designated as the "Ride Captain" for
that specific activity/event. This action permits the workload
for activity/event planning to be shared, provides the capability for
the Chapter to support more than one activity or event at the same
time when necessary, and provides other designated, knowledgeable,
and experienced personnel to assist the Ride Captain.
Road Captains
are appointed by the Chapter President and receives guidance and
direction for his/her activities from the Vice President of the
Chapter. When a Senior Road Captain is appointed, he/she may
recommend to the Chapter President other individuals to be appointed
as Road Captains. Only knowledgeable and experienced riders
will be considered for designation as Road Captains.
The Senior
Road Captain will receive his/her guidance and direction from the
Chapter President and Vice President. Further, the Senior Road
Captain and the individual designated as the Ride Captain for a
specified activity or event are authorized to deal directly with the
Activities Chairperson and Events Coordinator in the course of
performing their assigned duties.
Major Duties
and Responsibilities. Major duties and responsibilities include
but are not limited to:
Road Captains:
Ensuring that all Chapter rides are conducted in a safe, orderly and
enjoyable manner.
Senior
Road Captain
Recommending
to the Chapter President, knowledgeable and experience riders to be
considered for appointment as Road Captains.
Coordinating
with the Activities Chairperson and/or Events Coordinator after a
Chapter riding activity or event has been scheduled to identify a
Ride Captain for that specific activity or event.
Meet with all
Road Captains as necessary to ensure that all plans and actions they
undertake are complete, accurate, and acceptable.
Ride Captain
Typical duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to
the following tasks:
Coordinating
with the Activities Chairperson and Events Coordinator after a
Chapter riding activity or event has been scheduled to identify a
primary and alternate route to/from the activity or event.
Once
coordination is completed and the Activities Chairperson/Events
Coordinator has approved the primary and alternate routes, the Road
Captain has three primary responsibilities to execute:
planning, reconnaissance, and support.
Planning
The Road Captain will develop a ride plan for the activity or
event. This ride plan will include at a minimum:
Primary route
information. This may be passed to the members/riders verbally
prior to the start of the ride or, for more complex rides, by means
of an information sheet that outlines the route to be taken.
This information sheet may also include a strip map depicting the
route. If written information is to be distributed, the Ride
Captain is responsible for drafting this information, preparing
copies, and distributing information sheets to members/riders prior
to beginning the ride.
Rest stops,
refueling points, and rendezvous points (if linking up with others)
along the route.
Identifying an
alternate route in the event that unforeseen circumstances prevent
completion of the ride on the primary route.
Emergency
contact information for agencies within the area where the ride will
be conducted (for example, phone numbers for the local hospital,
police, etc.)
The type of
formation to be utilized during the ride (for example, column of two
abreast, staggered or single file column offset).
Reconnaissance.
When feasible, the Road Captain will conduct a ride or drive of the
route to be taken prior to the scheduled activity or event.
This will permit him/her to make adjustments to the plan as may be
necessary. (For example, if a fuel stop is planned and during
the pre-ride reconnaissance the Road Captain discovers that the fuel
station he/she had planned to use is out of business, this permits
another acceptable fuel stop to be identified or the route altered as necessary.)
Support
On the day of the ride, the Road Captain for that activity/event
will conduct a briefing to all riders prior to departing from the
staging area. This briefing will include at a minimum
information on the following:
The final
destination of the ride.
The route to
be taken. (If written information is provided, it will be
distributed at this time and verbally covered with all riders.)
The type(s) of
riding formation(s) that will be used.
Planned fuel
and rest stops.
Actions to be
taken in the event a rider becomes lost, breaks down, becomes sick,
or is injured.
Information
regarding any police escorts, trailing vehicles, dangerous
intersections, etc.
Actions to be
taken in the event of inclement weather during the ride.
Identification
of lead and tail riders.
General safety
awareness and rules of the road type information.
As a matter of
policy, this Chapter does not endorse blocking intersections as this
poses a risk to riders and puts liability upon the Chapter and
Rolling Thunder®, Inc. in the event of an accident.
Accordingly, Road Captains are responsible for ensuring that riders
comply with established laws and rules of the road during the course
of the ride.
When a Senior
Road Captain is designated, he/she will meet with the Chapter Vice
President on an as needed basis to discuss the duties,
responsibilities, expectations, limitations, and performance of
assigned Road Captains.
Road Captains
will perform other duties as may be directed by the President or Vice
President of the Chapter.
Revised 6/24/2008 |