Make a rule before you leave. If a red light splits the group, the front cars pull into the next gas station or parking lot on the right and wait. Just pull over.
I run every convoy this way now, and it took one ugly mistake on Route 1 in New Jersey to get here. I caught a yellow, punched through, and the three cars behind me got stuck at the light. Four minutes they sat there.
By the time they got through, they hit a fork and had no idea which way I went. My friend Terri was in the last car. She told me later: “We sat at that light watching your taillights disappear and nobody knew what to do.”
These days we also run a live group map, so every car is a dot on everyone’s screen. The map won’t stop a red light from splitting you, though.
The Car That Squeezes Through on Yellow
Lights split groups with no warning at all. The lead car clears the intersection on green, the second car squeezes through on yellow, and everyone behind stops. Now only the front half knows the route.
The front group keeps driving. Back at the light, someone grabs a phone to call the leader while traffic stacks up behind them.
The Gas Station Rule
Front cars pull into the first safe spot on the right after an intersection splits the group. Gas stations work best because they are everywhere and easy to spot. Parking lots work too.
Nobody has to call anyone. The rear group clears the light, sees the front cars sitting in a lot, and pulls in.
You do have to say it out loud before you leave, or the front cars won’t know to stop.
“Nobody Knew What to Do”
Without a rule, people improvise. The lead driver slows down on the highway shoulder, which is dangerous. Someone in the back runs a stale yellow to catch up, which is worse.
Or the back cars just guess. That’s what happened at the fork on Route 1, and it cost us almost half an hour. Terri’s car went left. I had gone right. She ended up in an industrial park near Edison calling me from a loading dock asking where the highway went.
Where the Map Helps
The gas station rule gets you back together, but it doesn’t tell the back cars which way you went at a fork. With a shared map, anyone in Terri’s passenger seat could have glanced at a phone and seen my dot heading right.
If you have ever been the car that lost sight of the group and started texting, you know how bad that stretch is.
Say It in the Driveway
Before anyone gets in a car, say it once.
“If a light splits us, front cars pull into the next lot on the right. Nobody calls. Nobody texts. Just pull over and wait.”
Takes ten seconds. Anyone who has ridden in the back of a convoy will nod, because they’ve sat at that light too.
Terri Uses the Rule Now
Terri runs her own convoys to the shore every summer. She stole my rule. Last July, a light on the Parkway split her group heading to Long Beach Island, and the front two cars were in a Wawa lot before the rear group even cleared the intersection.
She called me that night just to say it worked.
That loading dock in Edison? She still brings it up every single trip. “Remember when I ended up at that warehouse?” Yeah, Terri. That is literally why the rule exists.