Governing Magazine, June 1999

See note below for missingfacts
 

Last year in Boston, a bicycle messengermade a big mistake. As Councilor Stephen Murphy left a meeting in CityHall and stepped off the curb, the speeding  courier, going the wrongway down a one-way street, nearly plowed into him.  Then he sworeat Murphy for getting in his way.

The biker had picked on the wrong man atthe wrong time.  Not only was Murphy chairman of the council's publicsafety committee but the panel was in the middle of debating new regulationsfor the teeming bike messenger industry in Boston.

Murphy says he didn't take the incidentpersonally, but he didn't forget it, either. Shortly afterward, he andhis colleagues voted a crackdown on the conduct of messengers who deliverpackages and letters across the city.  Under the newly adopted ordinance,bike messengers are required to be licensed by the police department, towear a helmet and obtain liability insurance.  In addition, each bikemust display a license plate.

Boston is just the latest big city to clampdown on messenger mayhem.  Citing reckless bike messengers as a majorthreat to public safety, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani recently orderedincreased police enforcement of traffic laws against reckless riders. Chicago has targeted breakneck bike couriers with tight insurance requirements.

Not every messenger is a two-wheeled menaceto pedestrians.  But with hundreds of them operating in some cities,there is intense interest in regulatory solutions.  "We are in a downtownarea here," says Murophy.  "We see the worst types of egregious offensesby bike couriers right under our noses."

Much of the uproar stems from recent, highlypublicized accidents involving pedestrians and daredevil couriers. In New York where many fast-food restaurants employ bicycle deliverymen,one of them struck and killed a 68-year on sidewalk pedestrian in 1997,sparking widespread calls for greater scrutiny of reckless cyclists. Boston city officials were acting in response to a violent 1997 collisionthat landed prominent School Committee member William Spring in an intensivecare unit.

But as many local officials will tell you,concern over lawless messengers - some of whom barrel down crowded downtownstreets at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour - is driven by reams of complaints,not media coverage.  "I've heard from constituents of lots of incidentsof people being knocked over or brushed against," says Seattle CouncilwomanMartha Choe.

Bike messengers insist they are being unfairlysingled out for transgressions of a relative few.  The offer datato show that automobiles are far more dangerous that couriers.  Indeed,an incident in Chicago in April, in which an angry motorist chased downand ran over a bike messenger, indicates that the couriers themselves aresometimes victimized.

As for the William Spring incident in Boston- a cause celebre among messengers across the country - many argue thatthe accident was caused in part by Spring himself, who they contend crossedagainst the light.  "We're not saying the bike messenger in Bostonwas completely innocent, but it was probably mostly the fault of the pedestrian,"says Joe Hendry of the International Federation of Bike Messenger Associations. "The backlash has been so hard and heavy because there is a prejudice againstbike messengers."

Couriers aren't always on the losing endof these arguments.  A 1994 plan to license and regulate Seattle bikecouriers failed after messengers stormed city council hearings en masseand convinced lawmakers that many of the reckless bikers were actuallycommuters, not those who rode to make a living.

Still, Seattle is likely to remain oneof the messengers' rare victories, if only because they have an uncannyknack for picking the wrong fights at the wrong time.  Several yearsago in Chicago; shortly after the city council postponed passage of strictanti-messenger regulations, an errant courier slammed into the car doorof a state representative.  The legislator responded by introducinga biker-control bill in the legislature.

[This is a good example of the prejudice.Under the law it was the state representative (the lawmaker) who brokethe law and should have been charged. But prejudice by the powerful leadsto laws that discriminate]

Even in Boston, where they have been pummeledrepeatedly in the court of public opinion, messengers continue to provethe haven't mastered the art of political persuasion.  Soon afterpassage of the city's new messenger regulations, Councilor Murphy againfound himself buzzed by a belligerent biker.  This time,[Murphyclaims] the courier blew through a red light and stuck his leg outto push Murphy aside as he rode past.  Murphy was guick to take advantageof his own ordinance.  He wrote down the messenger's license platenumber and reported it to the police.
 

[Murphy is one of the supreme Boston Bigots. He also tried to banthe use of fixed gear bikes in Boston, just because messengers use them.]

Since much of the reporting in this accident isselective when it comes to the facts, Messengerville has includedsome. These types of serious accidents involving bike couriers are extremelyrare. The Gladstone/Spring accident occurred when a pedestrian (Spring)ran across the street against a red light and collided with the cyclist(Gladstone) who was proceeding through a green light.

The bicycle messenger ordinance in effect at the time already requiredbicycle couriers to have licenses, wear visible identification numbers,and have license plates on their bikes. It also required messenger companiesto register with the city. Much to the dismay of the anti-bike types, theonly new requirement is insurance. Automobile couriers face no similarrequirements.

Since the accident took place at an intersection crosswalk Gladstonewas ticketed because, under the law vehicles must yield to pedestriansin the crosswalk - even if the pedestrian is jaywalking. The fines he receivedwere: "$100 for not wearing the vest required under a city ordinance; $100for not being licensed, and $20 under the state law mandating deferenceto pedestrians in crosswalks. In other words $200 for bureaucratic violationsand $20 for traffic violations.

Under Murphy's new law a motorist who kills someone while drinkingand driving would not be permitted to work as a bicycle courier in Boston.However that same drunk driving motorist would be permitted to work asa car courier in Boston. I guess Murphy would prefer drunk drivers to drivecars.

Back to the Boston Crash Controversey

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