by Gary Washburn
Chicago Tribune, February 13, 1995
My friend Ace, inspired by two close encounters with wild and woollydowntown bicycle messengers, offered a bright idea for the protection andpreservation of pedestrians like himself.
"Why can't we assign these guys jerseys with numbers?" heasked..
When a wheeled marauder is spotted pedaling the wrong way down a one-waystreet, "going through the light and scattering pedestrians"in a crosswalk or otherwise violating laws meant to maintain safety andsanity on street and sidewalk, anybody could phone the ID number to a specialcity enforcer, he said..
But Ace is a little late with his ID proposal. It's already law.
Nearly three years ago, the City Council passed a measure that requirescyclists employed by messenger services downtown to display numbers atleast 4-inches high on the backs of their safety vests so violations canbe reported to police.
But, alas, the well-intentioned ordinance has fallen short, as anyonecan attest by taking a walk across the Loop..
In a random check of 25 messengers one afternoon last week, I found11 who were wearing no number and 11 others with packs slung across theirbacks, either partially obscuring their numerals or making it impossibleto see if they were wearing any.
Of the three messengers whose IDs were visible, only one-No. 133, wearingthe livery of Parcell Way-had numbers large enough and distinct enoughto be seen clearly.
Of course, some of the messengers I saw may not even have been coveredby the ordinance, which illustrates a major loophole. The law applies onlyto cyclists who work for messenger services, not to in-house couriers employedby law firms, ad agencies and other companies.
But the most telling weakness of the statute is the fact that innocentsafoot remain at the mercy off kamikaze pedalers..
Besides who-knows-how-many close calls I've witnessed personally inrecent months, I've seen messengers actually plow into pedestrians twice.In the nastier of the two incidents, a woman standing on a corner waitingto cross the street was sent sprawling to the pavement.
For his part, Ace reported he was "just nicked" in one ofhis encounters, but he was ready for the other one, and it was a littlemore dramatic.
"I saw him coming and I just pushed him," he said. "Hehad to take a fall. Ask me if I felt bad."
Pedestrians have suffered broken arms and legs, and in a tragic accidentabout 18 months ago-after the passage of the law-the mother of a "dearfriend" was knocked to the ground, said Ald. Eugenee Schulter (47th),the sponsor of the ID measure. The woman suffered severe head injuriesand later died, he said..
"Our ordinance has made a difference," Schulter asserted "Butwe have to go even further."
The ID law may be beefed up by spring to include in-house messengers,and officials are trying too find a way to ensure that numbers are visible,Schulter said.
But maybe it would help if the messengers themselves-not just theirfirms-were licensed, and police actually made an effort to curb and ticketthe ones who violate the law.
In the meantime, Ace and others who've been forced to play dodge-'emmight favor another approach. In the daily struggle for downtown pavement,messengers and cabbies-some of whom also terrorize pedestrians-have becomenatural enemies.
So you round up all the renegade cabbies and send them into a big roomthrough one door. You round up all the renegade messengers and send themin through another.
Then you lock the doors.
Case closed -----------
Got a commuting question? See a problem on the area's roads, trainsor buses? Getting Around will address topics of general interest. Writeto Getting Around, c/o Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigann Ave., Chicago,Ill. 60611-4041.
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