Holding a crossing

Nearly every route has one crossing that decides how the whole thing feels. Getting it right is mostly procedure, and the procedure is worth being boring about.

The group stops before the crossing, every week, whether or not the way looks clear. Stopping is the habit you are building; a group that crosses on the judgment of whoever is at the front will eventually cross on the judgment of an eight-year-old who is at the front because they were fastest.

One adult goes to the crossing point and stands where drivers can see them, before the group starts to move. They are not directing traffic. In most places you have no authority to do that, and should not pretend to. They are being visible, and they are being the thing a driver notices first, so the driver has already slowed by the time they see a dozen children.

The group crosses together, in one movement, not in a trickle. A trickle is what makes a driver think the gap has come.

The adult stays until the last rider is across, then rejoins at the back. Which means the person holding the crossing should not be the person setting the pace at the front, and on a route with two bad crossings you want three adults rather than two. The roles section of the starting guide has the rest of the jobs and who covers what when you only have two.

If the group gets split anyway, because a signal changes or a chain comes off, the answer is that an adult stays with each half until they are back together. Not that the front half rides faster to close the gap, and not that the back half chases. A child on their own at a crossing is the outcome all of this exists to avoid, so nothing in the procedure should ever make it more likely.

None of this is certification and none of it makes a route safe. It makes a predictable route, which is a different and more achievable thing.