Bob Levey
Washington Post, December 15, 1987
Do you think for a minute that our wonderful Washington bike messengershave mended their ways in honor of Christmas? Do you think for a minutethat I've given up recounting the horrors that they produce, every minuteof every day?
From Cathy E. Stewart of Springfield:
"My 'accident' happened last winter at the intersection of 18thand L. I had the WALK light and proceeded across the intersection withabout a dozen other people. When I got halfway across, I happened to seea courier rounding the corner (against the light) and heading straighttoward me.
"My reflex was to slow down, hoping he would miss me. Instead,he ran right into me.
"I ended up on top of him and his bicycle. I was dazed and allI can remember is him telling me, 'Get up, lady, you're all right.'
"He did stay around long enough to help me get to my feet . . .. I spent the next four hours at George Washington University Hospitaltied to a stretcher. I ended up missing almost a week of work because ofthe huge lump on my head and many bruises down my back . . . ."
From "Unsigned -- Retired":
"As I was walking on Pennsylvania Avenue, a biker plowed into myback and sent me flying face forward . . . .
"My lower teeth went through my bottom lip. My upper teeth werestrewn on the sidewalk. My nose was bleeding and blood clots began to floatin my eyes. As I raised my bloody head, he made an obscene gesture . .. .
"My dental bill was over $2,000. My parents live outside the area.They have no idea as to my condition because I have not been 'home' sincethe accident. My lower lip is disfigured, my nose unbalanced, and sincethey are almost 90 years old, I have withheld this from them. By ChristmasI may be presentable, and can visit . . . ."
From Charles N. Childers of Crofton:
"On Sept. 28, I finished lunch at a sidewalk restaurant on M Streetacross from the National Geographic Society. I decided to cross the streetand visit the museum-like display in the National Geographic building.
"I started across the street. At about the second step, I was struckby a bike messenger . . . .
"The handlebar hit me full force on the left thigh. The resultwas facial lacerations which required a trip to the emergency room . .. .
"Four hours in the emergency room were required for 53 stitches.After the soreness was over and the black eyes subsided, a fracture inthe left shoulder with a rotary cuff injury were discovered. There is possibledamage to my right eye {as a result of} glasses shattered with pieces embeddedin my cheek . . . .
"The total expense to me will probably be about $1,500. I am coveredby insurance. The only comfort that I can take in the entire incident isthe fact that a 60-year-old guy can take such a blow and not pass out andstill drive home to the suburbs that evening.
" . . . .Please pursue your goal of getting the messengers offthe street. Get them off downtown streets right now. There is no informationso time-critical that requires messengers to endanger life and limb, theirsand mine."
I can't imagine saying it any better -- or reading it said any better.
But do you know what?
There are people around town who think that these victims (and thiscolumnist) are overstating the case -- or misstating the cause.
Robyn Daugherty, a bike messenger, blames the victim. "If you walkaround Washington, D.C. without looking where you are going, I can onlyfeel sorry for you," she says.
Robert H. Gagel of Gaithersburg blames the police. "Get the policeinto the downtown area and have them enforce the laws that are alreadyon the books," Robert writes.
David J. Turim, a former messenger, blames cars and the people who drivethem. "It is cars which rule the city, make the streets unsafe andemit the noxious fumes which we all must breathe," he writes. ". . . . I believe that the couriers are a vanguard of sorts, out thereproving the viability -- no, the superiority -- of getting around the cityby bike."
Mark W. Paules of Rockville, also a courier, blames the downtown crushin general. "The problem downtown is not just couriers breaking thelaw," he writes. "It's everyone breaking the law -- commuters,cabbies, delivery people, pedestrians, even the police."
Finally, Karen Brown, president of the Washington Metropolitan CourierAssociation, makes the remarkable argument that the problem is economics.Many messengers are black, she notes. So if we ban messengers from downtown,"black inner city youth with already high unemployment and littleor no credit history (for financing a vehicle) would be out of work."
You'll forgive me, folks, but I have never seen so many people bendover so far backwards to miss the point in my whole life.
It's very simple.
The common element in every courier atrocity story is the courier.
You can stick your head in the sand and yell, "Pedestrian!"You can close your eyes and howl, "Police!" You can beat yourbreast and moan about traffic. You can even raise the specter of blackunemployment when it has nothing to do with the issue.
But this remains: If bicycle couriers were not vicious, uncaring scofflaws,you wouldn't be discussing any of those other questions.
You've read Cathy Stewart's story. And the story of "Unsigned-Retired."And the story of Charles Childers. I ask you:
Did these incidents happen [perhaps they never happened at all]because a cop didn't do his job, or because a black kid needs to keep ajob?
No. They happened because criminals were riding bikes.
So let's go after those criminals. Let's solve the courier problem atits source. Get couriers out of downtown. Get them out now.
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