- from "Bikes off the sidewalks", Editorial,November 21, 1986:
Safe sidewalks are important. Some of an employee's best thinking occurson a contemplative stroll on sidewalks. Elderly people ought to be ableto get a little calm exercise. This can't happen when those on foot arescanning the concrete for kamikaze cyclists. Some of these ridersare bike messengers who treat the sidewalks as moving slalom courses, lookingfour or five walkers ahead to calculate their next daring move. Othersare awkward adults who haven't ridden a bike in years and are afraid toride on the streets. There are youths on stunt bikes who hop curbs withneither wheel on the ground.
-from -"Bicycles Downtown", Letters to the Editor,November 29, 1986
"Bikes Off the Sidewalks" is a most remarkably out-of-toucheditorial. Yes, downtown sidewalks are treacherous because of bicyclists,but it's nothing new, nor is the absence of law enforcement.
I also take issue with The Post's identification of the culprits. Inmy daily experience on downtown sidewalks, they are almost invariably bikemessengers, and they not only use the sidewalks at very high speeds, butalso ride against traffic on one-way streets and ignore traffic signals.
That "cyclists can solve the problem on their own by learning thelaws and obeying them" is obvious and irrelevant. The cyclists don'tsee a problem. Nor, apparently, do the police. NAT WILSON Washington
-from "Not every bad cyclist is a courier" -Letter to the Editor- June 21, 1989
I would like to express my sympathy for Bruce Shulman, who wrote aboutan encounter he had with a bicyclist {Close to Home, June 4} . As someonewho not only owns and operates a messenger service but also handles bicycleaffairs for the Washington Metropolitan Courier Association, I have a vestedinterest in seeing bicycle traffic adhere to the rules of the road.
The messenger industry, through the WMCA, has and will continue to workwith the District government to promote bicycle safety and awareness inour couriers. However, one obstacle to improving bicycling behavior hasbeen a tendency to assume that all bicycle traffic violators are couriers.
The incident Shulman recounts, which occurred at 7 p.m. at 19th Streetand Kalorama Road, involved an individual who "appeared to be a courier,"but several thousand people in this town commute by bicycle, while thereare only about 400 couriers.
Knapsacks, bicycle locks and bicycling apparel also are not confinedto couriers; two hours or so after most bicycle couriers have finisheda full day of riding for a living, this rider may have been a courier,but he also may have been a commuter or recreational bicyclist.
MATTHEW REINGOLD, Chevy Chase
-from "Free for All", February 25, 1989 -Scornfor Scorn
Bob Levey's hatred of all persons riding nonmotorized vehicles has finallycaused him to cross the line between weak humor and bad taste. In his Feb.14 column, he wondered what "crime" a man was committing by --as an observer claims -- driving his wheelchair at a "fast clip"down the K Street service road against traffic.
Leaving aside Levey's idiotic notion that the man might really be abike messenger in disguise, the real story is how disabled persons areable to get around the downtown at all. Our man in the wheelchair was nodoubt using the service road because pedestrians would give no quarteron the sidewalk; he may have been going the wrong way because the alternativeswere even less attractive. In any event, he deserves our concern -- notLevey's scorn.
David B Glazer
- from "Close to Home" - letters, June 4, 1989
Just the other day, at approximately 7 p.m., as I was turning left ontoKalorama Road NW from 19th Street, I almost collided with a bicycle rider.It was dusk, it was raining and the bicycle rider had no light on his bicycleand was not wearing bright-colored clothing. It was fortunate that I sawhim at all.
The bicycle rider, who appeared to be a courier, pulled up onthe passenger side of my new car and started to shout obscenities at me.He seemed to think it had been my intention to either collide with himor to proceed through the intersection before him.
As he shouted, he removed a large lock from the bicycle and waved itat me. I yelled back, telling him he should go on his way.
Finally, he did, but not before taking his lock and smashing it intomy new car, doing approximately $200 in damage. Unfortunately, no policemanwas in the area, and the rider was unidentifiable.
While such bicycle riders certainly have as much right to the road asthose driving cars, they also have the same responsibilities. It has beenmy observation, however, that many shirk this responsibility and that theDistrict of Columbia seems to have priorities other than enforcing thelaws concerning the registration and operation of bicycles. This, eventhough, in any contest between a bicycle and an automobile, the automobilewill almost certainly win, and the bicycle rider will almost certainlybe injured.
Legislation should be enacted to make it mandatory that bicycles usedfor commercial purposes carry identifying signs, just as cars carry licenseplates. Then unsafe acts by bicycle riders could be reported to the police,and riders, knowing that they can be identified, might be more reluctantto break the law.
For the sake of those drivers who may have to go through life wonderingif a fatal accident involving a bicycle rider could have been avoided,police should take violations of the traffic laws by bicycle riders seriously.-- Bruce N. Shulman
-from-"'62 Mississle Crisis, Via Western Union -VisitingDobrynin Recall How Embassy Messaged Moscow"
-Don Oberdorfer, November 18, 1989
The Soviet Embassy in Washington communicated with Moscow during theheight of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis through Western Union, which oftensent messengers on bicycles to pick up coded and urgent messages, formerambassador Anatoliy Dobrynin said last night.
Before and during the 1962 missile crisis, said Dobrynin, who arrivedhere as Soviet ambassador that year, the embassy did not have a directline of telephone or radio communication to Moscow. Once encoded, he said,messages were entrusted to Western Union bicycle messengers, who may havestopped for snacks or to chat with friends en route, oblivious to the world-shakingimplications of what they were carrying.
-from -"Civil Wrongs" -Richard Cohen, May 13,1990
What were these kids saying? Well, it seemed to me that they were announcingtheir arrival with a kind of musical swagger. But they were also sayingthat they were doing what they damn well pleased -- and it hardly matteredto them if other people were bothered. Indeed, that seemed to be the wholepoint. Playing the radio that loudly was an aggressive, provocative act.Presumably, the only way to have gotten them to mute the sound was by confrontation.That kind of thing can cost you your teeth.
I have somewhat the same feelings about bicycle messengers. With whatseems like impunity, they routinely break the law. They use the sidewalks,run red lights, speed the wrong way up one-way streets, weave in and outof traffic. Some of this activity is downright dangerous -- ask anyonewho has ever been hit by a speeding bike. But it's also arrogant and carriesa what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it? message. The answer is nothing --not if the police won't.
-from - "Bikes that hit car doors", Letter tothe Editor - June 26, 1990:
As a victim of two bicycling accidents in as many months in downtownWashington, I feel the need to address people who complain about me andmy fellow bike messengers {letters, June 9} . The problem is this: cardrivers and passengers occasionally open their car doors without lookingto see if a biker is coming. Any experienced city biker will tell you thatthis is by far the most common accident that befalls us.
On Monday, June 4, I was riding down the 1800 block of M Street whensomeone in a car opened his door. I knew I was doomed. I landed on my back,after doing a complete flip, with my bicycle on top of me. I lay in thestreet, my head swimming. Aside from the anger I felt, I also wonderedif I was hurt and how I would prevent this from happening again.
Shakily, I picked myself up (fortunately nothing was broken) and pleadedwith the man who tackled me with his door to please look out in the future.I recognized on his face the shock of one who just witnessed a spectaculardisplay of 200 pounds plus of metal, rubber and human body come to a deadstop right in front of his eyes.
Although crashing and pleading is an effective way of getting the messageacross, my fellow couriers and the increasing number of two-wheel commutingoffice workers are not stunt people. So please, if you are exiting yourcar in busy downtown Washington, look before you leave.
TIMOTHY GARDNER Washington
from "Off the Path, Into the Roadway" - Letterto the Editor, November 2, 1990, by fellow cyclist Christopher Biow, Sterling
So, drivers, when you see a bike commuter on the roadway, please understandthat he's not riding there just to inconvenience you. Try bike commutingyourself, and you'll begin to appreciate why paths cannot always be used.
On the other hand, if you see a bike messenger in your way, givehim lots of room. If he's in that business, he's psychotic, and shouldbe left alone.
from - Bikes belong on the Road - Free for All
February 15, 1992
Hey! Cut it out! I refer to Bob Levey's anti-bicycle remarks in hisFeb. 5 column. He attacks bicycle couriers, repeating charges of frequentcollisions with pedestrians. I don't claim that bikers never run into pedestrians;I'm sure it does happen, although I have never collided with a pedestrianwhile biking and have never witnessed such an accident. I have, however,been struck by a motor vehicle, and I have seen bicyclists hit by carson three other occasions.
The ignorance, disregard and hostility exhibited by drivers toward bicyclistsis far more prevalent and dangerous. The only time I have ever come closeto striking a pedestrian was when a woman stepped off the curb in frontof me (I had the right of way). Her head was turned away from me, to herright. If I had been driving a car rather than riding a bicycle, she mighthave died that afternoon. As it was, I skidded to a halt and managed toavoid touching her at all, although I scraped my own hands on the street.
Please, let's have some fairness. Why isn't Levey encouraging bicyclingas an inexpensive, healthy, nonpolluting, socially interactive method oftransportation? -- Erik Rensberger
from - The Slack Pack - Blissful Idleness and the FineArt of Dodging Nothing
Patrick Tracey, May 28, 1995:
Ironically, one of the biggest slacker jobs is considered to be bicyclemessengering. How can you be a slacker and work one of the most physicallydemanding jobs? "By skipping days," says a 26-year-old messengerhanging out in Farragut Square. This slacker spoke on condition that hisname not be used because he's already in trouble for skipping days. "Iwouldn't want to get fired for being a slacker," he says.
Suffice it to say that the messenger fits the stereotypical slackerprofile, which is Gen-X and single, though a fair number of older slackercouples and even whole slacker families are out there.
-from - "A Pain In the Asphalt" -Tony Kornheiser,May 26, 1996:
I would like to propose a more permanent solution. It is a little radical,but it might just solve all of D.C.'s problems.
Here's what we do: We flood the city, make it a water wonderland, likeVenice. Who will care about potholes that are five feet under water? Wewill all get around by gondola (which we will call "gundolas"because, in a necessary local adaptation, someone will have to ride shotgun).The tourist industry will boom. And best of all, all those downtown bicyclemessengers would drown.
-from "No more pedestrian intimidation", Closeto Home (Letter),November 17, 1996:
In recent weeks, the D.C. police have been stationing a police car outsidethe Foggy Bottom Metro at lunch hour in order to remind pedestrians, witha loudspeaker, that they should not jaywalk...If pedestrians jaywalk, theharm most likely will be to themselves. However, if a car violates thelaw, the harm can easily be to another party.
The number of times I've seen red lights run, illegal turns made andblack exhaust fumes choke passersby are countless. I was not aware, either,that the city thought it productive to allow bicycle messengers to weavedangerously through traffic or pizza-delivery scooters to speed down thesidewalk when it suits them.
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