By Sandra McKay, State Political Reporter
The (Melbourne) Age, June 6, 1998
"Kamikazes" on bikes have been threatened with legislativeaction by the Premier, Mr Jeff Kennett, who has ordered a police crackdownon bicycle courier companies..
Mr Kennett said he was sick of the "obscene" behavior of couriersrunning red lights, swerving in front of cars and pedestrians, mountingfootpaths and "generally breaking every road law that exists".
"Sometimes I wish I had a blue light I could attach to the roofof my car and pull these hoons over," he said..
Instead, Mr Kennett has ordered the chief police commissioner, Mr NeilComrie, to do whatever is necessary to stop the "kamikazes",and said he would not hesitate to introduce fines or force the registrationof bikes or cyclists.
Inspector Michael Glinski, who is in charge of Melbourne's central businessdistrict, said police had been working for three months on a plan to improvethe behavior of bike couriers, and was confident of avoiding legislationby working with the 28 major companies.
Mr Glinski said the biggest problem was tracing the culprits, who weredifficult to identify in their standard black riding gear.
A key recommendation in a draft report plan to be considered by theMelbourne City Council on 17 June is for mandatory uniforms.
Mr Glinski said serious breaches of the road rules in the central businessdistrict were a growing problem, with 81 penalty notices issued by thebicycle patrol group last month. Ninety-five per cent of offenders werecouriers..
The issue came to a head when the Premier narrowly avoided two accidentsthis week..
But Mr Charles Warr, 25, who has been a bike courier for five yearsand has come a cropper several times, said Mr Kennett's reaction was "overblown".
"We're just trying to do a job here," he said. "Sometimesyou might have to do some things and ride flat-out, but most of the timedrivers are more a problem than we are."
Mr Warr said the police had regular blitzes, fining couriers $20 fortailgating, running lights and using tram lines as safety zones. The finescame out of his average weekly commission of $500.
Making a good income was hard work, requiring pedalling from one endof the city to another in 100 minutes. The faster you pedalled, the moreyou earned.
The fleet managers of two of Melbourne's biggest bike couriers, Dartand Minute Man, which have about 20 riders each, said they would be happyto cooperate with police but were surprised by Mr Kennett's concern.
Mr Anthony Grace of Dart couriers said the pricing schedule allowedfor pick-up and delivery within the CBD in 20 minutes, which should notrequire law-breaking. He was unaware of any serious problems.
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