correct ground movement hand signals

[Colin Alford]

Chris,

I do not know if there is a British manual that gives instructions for ground guides, but this subject in definitely covered in both the 1943 and 1944 editions of the Canadian "Regulations for Drivers of M.T. Vehicles and Universal Carriers and Motorcyclists" and also the "Regulations for Drivers of Armoured Fighting Vehicles and Self Propelled Artillery"

Attached are images of the applicable pages.

Colin

[cpetronis]

Awesome sauce Colin that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks a lot. Now I have to start scouring ebay for my own copy.
In reading the other posts to this thread I agree with pretty much everything I've read. I can understand where a person who's made a major investment in time and money could be inclined to figure they know best and ignore ground guides. Personally, I figure that I can't see or hear anything when driving so better to rely on the man on the ground.
Funny story on that though, I was borrowing a friend's M8 Greyhound for the weekend and had an active duty army Cav officer directing me while maneuvering it back onto my lowboy. He backed me into a tree which deformed the driver side wheel skirt. http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/im...milies/doh.gif Luckily the owner was very gracious and understanding about it but I've still never gotten over that one. It's one thing to damage my own vehicle but somebody else's is like a mortal sin.
So that being said, now I try to always use 2 ground guides when backing up. A lot of people laugh at me and say I'm being over cautious but I'd rather not make the same mistake twice. Part of me is always nervous though about running over the guy in the rear even though he shouldn't be standing directly behind the vehicle. Bottom line I need to get me a bicycle. Hard to hurt anybody too badly with that.

Regards,

Chris

[rob love]

Some basic and common sense rules on ground guiding:

1: The guide does not walk backwards while bringing a vehicle towards him. He walks back 20 feet or whatever is appropriate and then guides the vehicle towards him.

2: The guide never stands between the vehicle being guided and an immovable object like a wall or another vehicle.

3: If the operator loses sight of the guide, the operator stops until he can see the guide.

4: guide in the front and if backing up you have a second guide at the rear. Again, not standing right behind the vehicle, but to the side where the front guide can see him and relay the signals.

5: When the arm is outstretched for left or right turn, the operator continues to turn his wheel/tiller bars in that direction until the arm goes down. The wheel (or in the case of the tiller bars, the vehicles orientation) then stays in that position until the guide signals to adjust the wheels or direction. Two hands held up facing each other is an indication to bring the wheels back to straight ahead position. This is said in Colin's fifth photo from the manual, but I wanted to stress it. Some drivers turn hard over as soon as the guide signals a turn, then all the way back as soon as the arm drops. It is very frustrating as a guide.

[Lauren Child]

There are different versions in use internationally, and as Adrian says, some drivers dont take instruction well (whether by lack of training or force of will). Either way it's only good if the other person understands and knows what to do.

Remember we're all human and we all make mistakes.

[Lauren Child]

For a flashback to the past, here are the instructions from Tank Training Volume 1 1930, amendment 1 of 1933

Presumably this is when they were defined, as the unamended manual shows police officers giving normal traffic directions.

[Lauren Child]

This one is clearer, from "Manual of Recovery (c) Recovery Technique Part 2; Practical and Technical Considerations" 7th August 1945.

The only thing I'd add is that :
a) many people use both arms for Advance
b) note the main difference for Halt is the elbows out and hands above eye hieght, while Advance/Reverse are elbows close to the body with hands at or below eye hieght.
c) to indicate a neutral turn bump your fists together twice with elbows out, before indicating direction normally, but remember not all vehicles can neutral steer/pivot steer.
d) some folks use a bent arm and fist (a bit like half of a halt signal) to indicate a change in direction - some would say it's safer as there's less chance of your hand going into something, and you can be more expressive with the fist for a tighter turn. That's probably why most folks use two arms for the Advance signal, so it's not confused.

Hope that helps.

[Jim Burrill]

For dusk/night movements, I have three of these Aircraft mashaling wands in the Humber stowage. Also whistles.

The guy in eye contact with the driver has two wands and uses them as expected to show hand directions. The rear guide uses his as so: a steady pointed up is "whatever you have him doing is fine , not about to crunch anything. A down is a "thumbs down" or stop. ALong with a whistle. (even if the driver can't hear it, the director can.) And then pointing sideways indicates which way the back end needs to go.