By Allan Lengel
Washington Post,  January 4, 2001
 

Shawn Bega rattled off the mishaps over the years: a shattered left eardrum, a broken hand, a dislocated shoulder and a broken collarbone.

"I still freak out people. I can pull my shoulder out of my socket," said Bega, a bicycle courier and the owner of Bega Services Inc., a courier company in Dupont Circle. "I ride a lot differently now because of some of the accidents. Some have been extremely scary."

Today, for the most part, his injuries have healed. Not so for the reputation of his industry, which has been besmirched by stories of rude, reckless speedsters -- kamikazes on bicycles.

Bega, 30, is working hard to change that.

As president of the D.C. Bicycle Courier Association, he has asked the D.C. Council to pass laws to better regulate the industry and make it safer. He also has encouraged courier companies to provide training for workers, sponsored monthly rides for area bicyclists and educated employers and couriers about safety.

"I think we've made a huge difference in just the way messengers ride," he said. "They have begun to slow down and take care of themselves. But I think there's a lot of work to do."

There are 511 messengers and 53 bicycle courier companies in the District. For many couriers, it's more than a job -- it's a lifestyle. Members of the eclectic group -- often wearing spandex pants, backward caps and wraparound sunglasses -- congregate at certain downtown nightclubs, ride in rallies and attend international bicyclist courier competitions. During the day, in the cold of winter, some can be found taking breaks on the second floor of Burger King on K Street NW near 16th Street.

"I think they're an extremely interesting subculture in Washington," said Karen Nozik, a board member of the Washington Area Bicyclists Association, which sponsors rides throughout the region. "They add a lot of color to living here."

Many couriers speak of their jobs in endearing terms.

"I absolutely love it," said Sheba Farrin, 27, vice president of the couriers association. "I love riding my bike, and I love having my freedom and being outside and having every day be different."

Still, the pay is often low, about $350 a week for the average full-time courier, and turnover is high. And too many couriers aren't trained, Bega said. The results can be unnerving: bicycle messengers crashing into cars and pedestrians and getting into heated arguments with cab drivers and other motorists, unleashing loud bursts of vulgarities. The couriers often cite the cabbie as their nemesis.

According to the couriers association, messengers get into about 30 to 50 minor accidents a month in the District. Many often only bump into cars, getting minor bruises, but about one courier a month breaks a bone, and at least four have been killed in the past decade.

The public has been less than sympathetic.

"They cut in front of you all the time," said Nelson Archer, a courier who uses a van. "They give you the finger. They're so reckless."

Over the years, the D.C. Council has responded to citizen complaints about the couriers, approving laws that ban bicyclists from riding on sidewalks in the central business district. But some citizens and politicians complain about lax enforcement.

"I do believe if police would give some tickets for people who are riding bicycles [on the sidewalks], that word would spread quickly, and that would curtail the breaking of the law," said council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large).

D.C. police officer Michael Touhart, who patrols the downtown business district, said strict enforcement isn't easy. Downtown police often have higher priorities during the daytime, he said, and couriers often elude officers, slipping between cars and cutting through parks.

"They're very difficult to deal with," Touhart said. "They violate every traffic law. They run lights, [make] improper lane changes. They ride on the sidewalk."

Last February, Schwartz's Committee on Public Works and the Environment held public hearings on bicycles and couriers. In an effort to discourage dangerous bicycle riding, Bega submitted proposals that included prohibiting courier companies from guaranteeing a delivery time of less than 30 minutes.

"There is not a veteran bicycle courier on the street who wants to ride dangerously," Bega told the committee. "The faceless corporations who now control the bulk of bicycle deliveries in Washington . . . have been allowed to avoid responsibility for a system they have created that demands daredevil tactics from their riders. Veteran bicycle couriers who used to safely share the road with the rest of the city are now forced to take death-defying chances just to make enough to feed themselves and their families."

Schwartz said she will look at various safety proposals next year and wants to put more pressure on police to enforce existing laws.

Bicycle messengers include former lawyers and artists; recent college graduates, bartenders and waitresses; and a few ex-felons and junkies. Some couriers make more than the average $350-a-week pay, but the big draw is the outdoor bicycling and the free-spirited, sometimes outlaw image.

"There's a very small percentage of people who see us in TV shows and movies and think that would be a really cool job to get out there and get in fights with cab drivers," Bega said. "They say, 'Boy, doesn't that sound fun?' "

Bega -- who studied theater at Beloit College in Wisconsin for two years -- concedes that he wasn't always as careful as he should have been.

About eight years ago, he collided with a cab on K Street NW. His head slammed into the hood, damaging his hearing on his left side. Two years later, he fell off his bicycle on Capitol Hill, breaking his collarbone and dislocating his right shoulder.

"When I started, I was a kamikaze rider," he said. "I opened my own company just so I could slow down." His company has six full-time couriers.

In 1997, he and a few other couriers formed the association and began organizing the sixth annual Cycle Messenger World Champions for the next year in Washington. Events in the competition, which tests couriers' agility and skills, included picking up and delivering packages, figuring out routes, locking bikes and running up stairs. About 500 couriers competed, with participants from several countries, including England, Germany, Russia and Australia.

"Before that, there was a loose community of bicycle messengers, but we really never came together to do anything," Bega said. Hosting the world competition "really brought us together as a community," he said.

Shortly after the competition, then-Mayor Marion Barry proclaimed Oct. 9, 1998, as Messenger Courier Appreciation Day to thank "the tireless efforts of bicycle messengers of D.C. for the job they do in the rain, the ice, the heat, the traffic."

About the same time, the association began sponsoring monthly rides to promote cycling in Washington and to build a sense of community for those of "all ages, sexes, races . . . lifestyles, hair colors, shoe sizes and riding abilities." The rides continue and are open to any and all.

Bega said he is optimistic about upgrading the couriers' stature.

In a recent letter to the couriers association, he wrote that for "perhaps the first time, we are beginning to be viewed by the suits (customers and security guards) as the professionals that we are. Things like the solidarity rides, the world championships, the good press we've gotten from working with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association . . . have all worked to help our image."