Boston Herald, November 14, 1997
By Mark Mueller.
Ratcheting up the pressure on reckless bicycle couriers, Boston's largestbusiness organization yesterday urged a boycott of messenger companiesthat flout the law.
The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, following a morning vote byits executive committee, urged businesses across Boston to use only thosecourier services whose employees obtain and carry city licenses and wearvests emblazoned with a large, three-digit number, making them easily identifiableto motorists and pedestrians.
Licenses and vests are already required by city law but Boston's estimated500 couriers routinely work without them. Yesterday's action was the latestin a campaign to rein in couriers considered rude and dangerous. The movewas sparked by an Oct. 30 incident between a bicycle courier and BostonSchool Committee member William Spring, 62, who remained in the intensivecare unit of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center yesterday. No chargeshave been filed.
"By insisting that all messengers services and their employeescomply with already existing laws, Boston's business community can havea dramatic impact on improving pedestrian safety in our community,"said John Hamill, president of Fleet Bank and a member of the chamber'sexecutive committee.
A task force of police and community officials also is looking to revampcourier regulations, hiking fines and perhaps requiring liability insurance.
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