Motorcycle Group: Riding Staggered Can Cost Half the Compensation

• Case before the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig, file number 7 U 39/26, heard on 7 July 2026
• In the end the injured motorcyclist had to bear 50 percent of his own damages
• At least 50 centimetres of clearance to the centre line serve as a rule of thumb

Staggered riding is standard practice for many groups. The formation provides a better view ahead and more room to react. In legal terms, however, it is not a category of its own. As far as the German road traffic regulations are concerned, every rider remains an individual road user, and the same rule applies to him as to everyone else. A recent case from Schleswig-Holstein shows how expensive the gap between riding practice and the legal position can become. It joins a whole series of decisions that have dealt with accidents during group rides in recent years.

What happened on the country road in Schleswig-Holstein?

A motorcyclist collided with an oncoming car in a slight right-hand bend. He was riding third in a group of six and had taken the left-hand position within his own lane in the formation.

The road was narrow. In the collision the left footpeg was torn off and the rider suffered severe injuries to his left leg. Permanent limitations remained. Among other things, a degree of disability of 30 was recognised, meaning an officially established permanent impairment. The man can now only cover longer distances with a walking stick.

Why did the motorcyclist only receive half of his damages?

Because it could no longer be established who had actually strayed across the centre of the carriageway. There were no usable traces, and the witness statements brought no clarity.

The regional court therefore split the responsibility in half. Before the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig the motorcyclist demanded full compensation for his loss. It was pointed out to him that, even on the undisputed sequence of events, he may have breached the keep-right rule and that he was getting off lightly at 50 percent. In the end the parties agreed on a settlement based on that ratio. No judgment was therefore handed down in the matter. The account of the facts comes from an article by Friedhelm Röttger, presiding judge at the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig, published in the July 2026 issue of the legal journal “Schleswig-Holsteinische Anzeigen”.

Why do motorcycle groups ride staggered at all?

Because the formation gives each individual a better view ahead and more room to react. It also reduces the risk of rear-end collisions within the group.

The riders line up alternately to the left and right within their own lane. A widespread misconception holds that staggered riding permits a smaller distance to the rider in front. That is not the case. The prescribed safety distance remains unchanged, and the formation is only considered sensible on straight sections.

Keep-right rule for motorcycle groups: how far right does everyone have to ride?

The relevant provision is section 2 subsection 2 of the German road traffic regulations. It requires riders to keep as far to the right as possible, and particularly so when oncoming traffic is to be expected, when the route becomes difficult to see or when others want to overtake.

The Federal Court of Justice has repeatedly emphasised that this requirement is not rigid. What “as far right as possible” means depends on the location, on the condition of the carriageway, on speed, on visibility and on oncoming traffic. Within those limits the rider retains a certain amount of leeway, as long as he keeps as far right as is reasonable in the situation at hand.

That leeway disappears on crests and in bends, however. Where the route becomes difficult to see, the outermost right-hand side of the carriageway must be maintained. The reason is simple: anyone who cannot see what lies beyond the bend can no longer swerve to the right in time to avoid a suddenly appearing obstacle. The Federal Court of Justice has also made clear that the left half of the carriageway may only be used in exceptional cases, for instance in heavy ice or where a hazard makes evasive action unavoidable.

For motorcycle groups one clear point follows from this: staggered riding is not an exception to the road traffic regulations. It only remains unproblematic if every individual still stays far enough to the right. Anyone riding in the left staggered position and thereby ending up close to the centre line, even though the situation is tight or unclear, risks being accused of a violation.

What clearance to the centre line counts as safe?

Around 50 centimetres to the centre line is regarded as appropriate in case law, at least on roads roughly six metres wide. That leaves a total of one metre of safety clearance between two vehicles passing each other.

There is a limit in the other direction as well. As a rule, about one metre of clearance should remain to the right-hand edge of the carriageway, and less than half a metre only in exceptional cases. For motorcycles the Federal Court of Justice has expressly taken centrifugal forces in bends into account. In one decided case a rider in a left-hand bend outside built-up areas did not breach the keep-right rule even though he maintained 1.50 metres of clearance to the right-hand edge and 65 centimetres to the centre line.

As a practical rule of thumb, speed and line can be chosen so that at least 50 centimetres remain to the centre line and no more than one metre to the right-hand edge. With a lane width of 2.90 metres, no more than 1.5 metres to the right-hand edge is permissible. It nevertheless remains important that courts always assess the individual case. Any deviation is in any event contrary to the rules if obstruction or endangerment of others cannot be ruled out.

One point remains unsatisfactory for motorcyclists. In riding school and in safety training many learn that the centre of the carriageway is often the dirtiest area, because oil and other contamination collect there. A fair amount also gathers at the outermost right-hand edge, which can lead to slides or falls. The safest part of the carriageway therefore keeps changing. To what extent the keep-right rule reflects this particularity of two-wheelers remains an open question.

Does a motorcycle group count as a closed convoy?

No, not on a normal private ride. A closed convoy under section 27 of the road traffic regulations is a special case, typically an organised convoy run, and it is tied to certain conditions as well as to a permit.

Only then can the convoy be treated as a single vehicle in certain respects. That does not apply to the usual weekend tour. Everyone rides as an individual vehicle within a group. From this it follows that distances must be chosen so that safe reactions remain possible. Other road users may overtake a group, and conversely each rider must pull out and pull back in cleanly on his own when overtaking. A private column is not a legal unit but an accumulation of individuals.

How do courts assess accidents within the group?

Inconsistently, with a discernible development over recent years. Two decisions show the range.

The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt ruled in 2015 on an accident in which four motorcyclists were travelling close together and without a fixed order. After the leading rider collided with a car, two others crashed. The court saw in this a tacitly agreed waiver of liability, because the group had by mutual consent not maintained the safety distance and had thereby knowingly accepted a particular risk. Claims against the rider behind were therefore excluded, since he could not be accused of gross negligence.

The Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf took a different line in 2021. In an accident within a motorcycle group on public roads, the assumption of a tacit waiver of liability regularly does not apply, because an unusually elevated risk of damage comparable to a race-like event is not present. One further thought from that decision is notable: instead of the more dangerous staggered formation, the riders involved could also have ridden in single file with greater distances, as a cautious road user would have done.

When should the group switch to single file?

As soon as the route becomes difficult to see. Right-hand bends, left-hand bends, crests, narrow sections and any recognisable oncoming traffic are the points at which the formation should be broken up.

That is exactly where the critical situations occur, and exactly where the keep-right rule becomes noticeably stricter. If an accident happens in a bend or with oncoming traffic, the argument that one stayed on one’s own half of the carriageway only goes so far. The case from Schleswig-Holstein shows how quickly this turns into contributory fault when the exact course of the accident can no longer be reconstructed afterwards. Anyone riding in single file on such sections loses little and, in case of doubt, gains a great deal.

A breach of the keep-right rule can also be penalised. If another road user is endangered in oncoming traffic, while being overtaken, on crests, in bends or where visibility is restricted, a fine of 80 euros and one point in the German traffic offenders register may follow. In the event of an accident, the liability ratio between those involved usually shifts.

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