Bob Levey
Washington Post, November 15, 1995
Please don't think that the bike messengers of our fair city have improvedtheir manners. Most never had any to begin with. And lately, they are gettingviolent to boot. Regina Olchowski recounts how.
Two weeks ago, Regina and four friends were in a cab, en route to afunction at a Northwest Washington hotel. As the cab pulled out into ConnecticutAvenue traffic, a bike messenger cut across its bow, much more closelythan he should have.
The driver tapped the horn, once, lightly, to register his discontent.This flung the messenger into a wild, hostile rage.
He parked his bike at the curb and approached the cab with his handsraised, "as if to say, Come out here and fight like a man!' "Regina says. And even though he had five people in his cab who deservedprompt, nonviolent service, the cabbie jumped out and challenged the messengerto a fight.
Regina & Co. pleaded with the cabbie to get back in and take themwhere they wanted to go. They assured him that he didn't have to proveanything, either to them or to some over-the-edge messenger. The cabbieagreed, and the ride resumed.
But five blocks later, while the cab waited at a red light, the bikemessenger reappeared. He "was screaming obscenities in the front passenger'sopen window" and ranting about how much danger cabbies pose to messengersevery day.
As a final piece of punctuation, the messenger slammed his fists againstthe side of the cab -- so hard that the rearview mirror shattered.
This was more than enough for the cabbie. He rammed the gearshift into"park," leaped out, opened the trunk and picked up a crowbar.When he headed toward the messenger, the bicyclist fled.
So did Regina and her friends. First, however, one member of the partytossed a $5 bill onto the seat.
The cabbie should have been grateful for a penny. But he wasn't throughyet. He made a U-turn and drove onto the sidewalk so that he blocked theprogress of the group. "We owed him another $5, he said," Reginareports.
The crew figured their lives were worth at least that much. They paid,grateful that the crowbar had not been a shotgun.
I'm sure bike messengers all over town will read this story and ask,"Shouldn't Levey be tearing this cabdriver limb from limb? Didn'the risk lives just as surely as the messenger did? Isn't it against thelaw to threaten someone with a crowbar? Isn't it against the law to driveonto a sidewalk, especially when you might hit a pedestrian? And isn'tit true that cabbies often drive as if messengers don't exist?"
Yes all around to that stream of questions, messengers. But yes to thesequestions, too.
* Wasn't this messenger way out of line to react so violently to onelousy beep?
* Wasn't he wrong to pursue the cabbie after the initial confrontation?
* Didn't the messenger start the trouble?
* Didn't the messenger escalate the trouble by displaying his foul vocabulary?
* Didn't the messenger pilot his bike as if he and it were immune fromtraffic laws?
* Don't most messengers do the same, day in and day out?
* Isn't it incredible that messengers in Washington still are not regulatedor licensed in any way?
Most cabbies obey the law, watch where they're going and treat the restof the world politely. How many messengers can truly say that, or evenpart of that? [actually most can-jh.]
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