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Target for Police: Bicycle Messengers
New York Times, August 20, 1986
By Michael Jensen Jr.
James Richards, bicycle messenger, rode down a sidewalk on the Avenue of
the Americas yesterday on his way to a delivery, Suddenly, Police Officer
Edward Tighe ordered him to dismount.
"You can't ride on the sidewalk," the officer said. "You're being issued
a summons."
"I don't believe this," Mr. Richards fumed as a crowd gathered. "This is
crazy."
Unannounced, teams of police officers have begun five-day a week watches
for bicycle messengers who violate traffic laws, pedalers in a hurry who
sometimes become a dangerous part of the Manhattan traffic madness.
In the last five years, with far more bicyclists - including messengers -
on the city's streets, the number of accidents involving bicyclists and pedestrians
has doubled. And the police believe that messengers are largely to blame.
In the first 15 days of the campaign, which began July 21, 3,363 summonses
were issued, three times the number issued in all of 1985, Sgt. George Bosko
of the Traffic Division said.
The police are concentrating am messengers; they usually issue only warnings
to bicyclists. "I don't think it's right," said Tony Jimenes, a dispatcher
for Spurt Messenger Service. But Sgt. Thomas Dolan of the Manhattan Traffic
Area said: "They get their bikes up to 30 miles an hour. They are dangerous."
Ten officers are assigned each day to scattered sites around Manhattan. Their
mission: issue tickets to bicyclists who run red lights, ride against traffic,
fail to give way to pedestrians or ride on sidewalks.
Messengers must also carry proper identification, the police said.
Eddie Ruyol, a dispatcher for Streetwise Couriers Inc., said all the blame
for accidents should not fall on the messengers.
"The pedestrians do it to themselves," he said. "They get nervous, and start
dancing in the middle of the street. The messenger can't tell which way the
pedestrian is going, so he heads straight for them. Either the pedestrian
moves or gets hit."
A collision will not necessarily slow a messenger down, Mr. Ruyol, a former
messenger, said. "Messengers are perfecting the art of hitting people and
remaining on the bike," he said.
Sergeant Bosko said that from January to June, 303 pedestrians were injured
in 291 collisions with bicycles. In all of last year, 747 pedestrians were
hurt in 707 collisions. "Fatalities normally run one to two a year," he said.
Mr. Ruyol and other dispatchers for messenger services said the crackdown
was creating problems for them. "One of my guys got five tickets in one day,"
said Ted Young, a dispatcher with Prop Trucks and Company.
The messengers, not their companies, are responsible for paying fines, the
dispatchers said. "If they run a red light, that's their own risk.," said
Harvey Rodriguez, a dispatcher for the Spun Messenger Service.
Summonses are returnable at the Traffic Violations Bureau, a unit of the
State Department of Motor Vehicles. The fine for running a red light is usually
$60; other violations carry fines of $45.
As might be expected, pedestrians who witnessed Mr. Richard's legal entanglement
on Sixth Avenue yesterday sided with the police, saying that the messengers
present a real danger.
"They've all got attitudes," said Bob D'Aurla, a cable splicer for the phone
company. "They're all hustlers. The quicker they get where they're going,
the more money they get. They're worse than the cab drivers, and that's saying
something."
Officer Tighe and his partner, Officer Stephen Finnegan, had some good luck
yesterday in their pursuit of the messengers. They found a telephone company
truck parked in the middle of the Avenue of Americas between 49th and 50th
Streets, where a crew was repairing a cable.
The two police officers stood behind the truck and peered around it to spot
violators. As each one was spotted, the officers waited until he approached
and stepped in front of him, telling him to stop and get off the bike.
"They do get angry," Officer Tighe said. "But they know what they've done."
Officer Tighe issued 16 summonses yesterday. He said that when the extra
police effort began last month, the messengers would be "running lights left
and right." Now, he said, it's a little harder to find violators.
Some bicyclists were able to elude the police yesterday. Officer Finnegan
tried to grab one man wearing a red shin and tight black cycling shorts,
but the man struggled free and rode away.
"They don't want us chasing people," Officer Finnegan said. "They figure
it's not worth an accident to get a bicycle summons."
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