by Sam Tracy
Most road "accidents" tend to have short lives in our media.Road wrecks, unlike wars or airplane crashes, are common enough to seemnearly natural. Yet when a Boston bicycle messenger struck a rich localsocialite last year, the media pricked up its ears the tired story of `carhits person' had suddenly taken a new twist entirely. Here at last wasa dog everyone could kick: a spectacular way to shift away from the usualculprits in road wrecks. Other rich socialites in Boston soon began tomake much righteous and indignant noise, and this summer Boston bike messengersreceived the harshest legal sanctions in their history.
Late last October, experienced courier Jonathan Gladstone turned ontoCommonwealth Avenue on his way to Brighton. His speedometer read 18mphas he accelerated towards a stoplight that had just turned green. A pedestriansuddenly stepped out into his path trying to make the opposing light hehad just missed. There was no time to swerve or warn and the two collided.Gladstone, landing dazed but on his feet, checked on the pedestrian nowlaying face down in the crosswalk. The man was breathing but not answeringquestions. Gladstone radioed for help while pedestrians stopped to gawk.Other onlookers_including drivers who had witnessed the crash_left thescene.
Gladstone was treated for injuries at Bringham and Women's hospitaland released. The pedestrian, Boston Federal Reserve Bank Vice PresidentWilliam Spring, was kept in a medically-induced coma for two weeks beforerecovering.
Reaction to the crash came quickly and severely. The Boston Chamberof Commerce called for a boycott of unlicensed bicycle messengers. Anygratitude for those professional and skilled enough to perform the 10 and15 minute deliveries that Chamber members still depend upon was quicklyforgotten: these executives had a morality lesson for the rabble on thestreets.
FRB VP Spring, now recovered, became a leading proponent of new regulationsfor bicycle messengers. Arguing for new laws in June, Spring alleged that"the civility of Boston is at stake." A new law governing thecycling component of the courier industry was passed by Boston Mayor ThomasMenino later that month, then forwarded to the state legislature for considerationbecause it involved the use of public roadways.
The rules sailed through the legislature in a lopsided vote, and ActingGovernor Cellucci signed the bill August 14. Designed to regulate bikecouriers into submission, the rules set up an obtuse passbook system forbicycle couriers alone. Anyone who actually knows many messengers wouldhave to wonder about the merits of such an idea. The law requires all couriersto register with Boston police, to pay for a license renewal whenever changingemployers, to display license plates and to either carry insurance or workfor insured companies. Boston bike messengers are now required to carrymore insurance than either car couriers or taxicabs, and hiring unlicensedmessengers is now illegal.
The new laws have left bike messenger community puzzled. In a June letterto the Boston Globe, San Francisco Bike Messenger Association PresidentHoward Williams thanked the paper for assuming that bike messengers wereperfect_the paper's fundamentally sloppy coverage of the controversy hadsuggested that couriers were somehow expected to maintain perfect safetyrecords, regardless of the 40,000 and more that drivers kill each year."We must in all seriousness decline the compliment," Howard addedafter thanking them. "We...will try to live up to such expectations,but we can only do so without unnecessary and antidemocratic legislation."
Similar sentiments were echoed by Bike Messenger Associations (BMAs)across the world. A July pressrelease signed by representatives of 14 regional BMAs from Torontoto Australia took the law to task. "North Americans accept death andinjury due to motor vehicle crashes as routine. However, this unusual incidenthas resulted in a proposed law that is not only unnecessary but one thathas been proven ineffective in other North American cities." Notingthat motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for all age groupsfrom 6 to 27, the couriers point out that "the bicycle is not onlystatistically harmless to pedestrians but is also environmentally friendlyand cuts down on urban gridlock."
Attempts to regulate bicycle couriers have a colorful history, if nota successful one. The balance of evidence shows that regulations targetingbicycle messengers alone have no significant impact on road safety statistics.While they allow civic leaders to proclaim "something is being done!,"legal sanctions on working cyclists draw on both the public coffers andthe remediation of more common traffic problems.
Glancing down upon the streets from executive towers, upstanding Chambersof Commerce members must surely realize that excesses of motor vehiclescause gridlock, smog and nearly all road accidents. While some cyclists_likesome drivers and pedestrians_do not always make mature decisions aboutsafety on the roads, it is disingenuous to assume working cyclists somehowfill this category. The nature of the occupation demands a commitment tobasic safety_you screw up, you lose your income or worse. Riding for aliving teaches traffic skills.
Messenger advocate Joe Hendry maintains a database detailing bicyclemessenger regulations and their impacts across the globe. It can be foundon the web at Messengerville.
Fearing perhaps pending legal action, Gladstone has not offered commenton the crash or the ensuing laws. "People were more concerned withthe fact that I may be a courier, and the issue of who was at fault thanwith the well-being of someone lying unconscious on the pavement, bleeding,"he said in an early statement.
Others in the courier community have felt more free to comment. Wroteone: "While there's no excuse for bad vehicle operation by anyonehad Spring been hit by a taxicab under similar circumstances, it couldhardly have been expected to produce a similar hysteria to "crackdown" on cab drivers."
More on the Boston Crash Controversy andmore BostonMessenger News
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