By Paul Hutchinson
Denver Post, February 8, 1997
In big cities across North America, bike messengers zip through downtownstreets and sidewalks in breezy defiance of traffic laws.
To some bike messengers, every traffic light looks green, every stopsign says go, and every sidewalk presents an invitation to cruise.
Chicago cracked down two years ago by licensing messengers and requiringthem to wear vests bearing an identifying number. Philadelphia is ponderinga similar measure. Vancouver, B.C., also requires licenses and numberedvests. And in Denver, the same rules are on the books—but not enforced.
Denver police admit they don’t ticket messengers for every offense.Moreover, the cops question whether they should. On any business day, aDenver pedestrian can witness dozens of infractions during a stroll along17th Street. Messengers blowing through red lights, weaving lickety-splitthrough rows of traffic, darting the wrong way up one-way streets, andrunning a human slalom course through busy sidewalks.
Rarely do riders on the sidewalk announce themselves with a bell ora voice alert. And some of the bikes most prized by messengers aren’t evenequipped with brakes.
"I’m amazed no one’s been killed," said Denver detective JohnWyckoff, a Denver police spokesman. "Just the other day, a messengerguy ran a red light and I almost hit him. So then he flipped me off."
Police do write tickets – but they write them selectively.
"We write quite a few tickets for the lights," said Sgt. SteveCalfee of the downtown mall unit. "But the sidewalk issue is one that,admittedly, we’ve been softer on. We realize that messengers are tryingto make a living, and they’re providing a service."
Although police write $25 tickets for bicyclists caught on the 16thStreet Mall, officers usually give a break to cyclists on other sidewalks.One reason: Collisions between bikes and pedestrians are rare, Calfee said.
"I don’t mean that we’re waiting for someone to get hurt, But thatdoes affect the way we operate."
Like most cities, Denver requires bicyclists to obey the same rulesas motorists – at least theoretically. Bike messengers, though, find thatnotion a nuisance. Because they work on commission, they must take everyshortcut possible, messengers say.
"We ride the sidewalks because that’s where the buildings and officesare," said Nate Cox, who delivers for Speedy Messenger Service. "Deliveriestake longer" for a rider following the law, he said.
Messengers are mostly young, mostly male and mostly attitude. To befair, most are able cyclists. Yet skill is no substitute for safe riding,according to Mike Hubbard, owner of Speedy Messenger. The company employseight full-time bike messengers.
"These guys are a different breed," Hubbard said. "Wecertainly discourage our guys from using the sidewalks. We have them sign(a statement) saying they will obey he rules of the road." But Hubbardfrequently walks downtown streets. He sees what goes on.
"We can’t sit and watch every move they make," he said. "Andoccasionally we’ll hire a bad egg. But we do have a supervisor out thereobserving them all day long."
Collisions between messengers and cars occur often enough to make insurancerates nearly prohibitive, Hubbard added. "If that continues, we’reconsidering alternatives to bicycles." He probably would endorse licensesand vests, Hubbard said, especially if it lowered insurance premiums.
Every day, Alex Lepcheck commutes by bike between his south Denver homeand the Auraria campus. And every day he follows traffic laws, Lepchecksays. He blames messengers and other scofflaws for giving all cyclistsa bad reputation.
"It’s easy to understand why people in cars hate people on bikes,when you have an outlaw element that completely ignores the rules,"Lepcheck said.
In 1993, the Denver City Council adopted a bicycle master plan. Theplan says the city will regulate messengers with testing, numbered vestsand other requirements "If the situation deteriorates."
Many believe it has. With 60 full time messengers now on downtown streets,some believe it’s time for tougher rules.
"I walk downtown like everybody else," says James Mackay,bicycle planner for the Denver Department of Public Works. "It’s anunfortunate issue, and I’m confidant it could be improved. I would notobject to a licensing program."
Detective Dave Metzler, a spokesman for Police Chief David Michaud,said the department probably would support such an effort.
"I don’t think we’d ever be opposed to something like that,"Metzler said. "I know we get a lot of calls about bicycles on sidewalks."
A second issue is equipment.
A decade ago, messengers commonly rode rugged, fat-tired bikes wellsuited for the punishment inflicted by urban streets. Yet today, the bikesmost coveted by messengers are light weigh, stripped-down racing machines.Some don’t even have brakes, but they certainly go fast.
Today’s way cool messenger rides a track bike, a fixed-gear bicyclewhose nimble ride allows precision maneuvering. These machines became faddishamong messengers after Nelson Vales, a New York bike messenger, achieveda measure of fame in Olympic racing events.
But true track bikes lack any type of mechanical brake.
In an emergency, a rider can try to lock the wheels, throwing the bikeinto a dangerous skid. Or he can grip the front wheel with his hand – ifhe’s wearing a glove. A third option is jamming a foot between the frontwheel and the down-tube of the bike frame. That’s also dangerous. In anycase, mechanical brakes easily outperform those primitive stopping methods,experts say.
"It’s ludicrous to ride something like that on the street,"said Tito Collins, third generation proprietor of Collins Bike Shop onEast Colfax Avenue. "These guys ride at breakneck speeds. If a carpulls in front of you, you’re gonna be a piece of the door."
One longtime Denver bike messenger has worked several years on ridersafety issues. Jason Abernathy, known on the street as J-Bone, offers safetytips to new messengers and sits on the mayor’s bicycle advisory committee.He also publishes an occasional safety bulletin for bike messengers. Licensingand numbered vests might improve matters, Abernathy said, but he offereda peculiar slant on the subject:
"From our point of view, that’s saying, ‘We have to wear vests,but pedestrians don’t.’ Now I ask you: Is that fair?"
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