Editorial
Boston Business Journal, November 17, 1997
How many times have you walked across the street in downtown Bostonand nearly been run over by a speeding bicycle courier? Most people havetheir own horror stories.
Unfortunately for Bill Spring, his is the worst possible horror story.Spring, an admired member of the Boston School Committee and a vice presidentat the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, is in a coma after he was hit recentlyby an unlicensed bike messenger while crossing Clarendon Street at CommonwealthAvenue. He's not expected to recover.
Understandably, many in the business community are outraged and demandingnew curbs on couriers. We couldn't agree with them more. The problem isn'tjust unlicensed messengers. The problem is the often reckless and dangerousway couriers, both licensed and unlicensed, zig-zag through city trafficand dart across streets, at sometimes incredible speeds. The messengersroutinely don't follow traffic laws. They routinely assume pedestriansand automobiles should get out of their way. They go down one-way streetsin the wrong direction, surprising pedestrians and automobiles alike.
A few years ago, Domino's Pizza ceased policies that had prompted itspizza delivery people to drive madly around communities in order to beattheir 30-minute delivery guarantees. People were getting killed. The sameis happening with bicycle couriers. We fully understand bicycle couriersserve an important economic function. Like other companies, the BostonBusiness Journal frequently uses such messengers. However, the means don'tjustify the end--and no delivery is so important that it comes before thelives and safety of citizens.
Couriers shouldn't dread having to follow basic traffic laws. Even byfollowing traffic laws, bicycles will often remain faster modes of transportation.Bicycle couriers don't have to find parking. They don't have to wait fortraffic lights, as long as they get off their bicycles and walk acrossstreets. They can keep moving at moderate speeds as cars sit stranded intraffic snarls. New restrictions wouldn't provide safety only to motoristsand pedestrians. More often than not, couriers are the ones who end upin the hospital following an accident.
It's a shame it took a tragedy to bring focus to this problem.
[New laws against couriers still won't stop Bill Spring and othersfrom crossing against a red light into the path of a courier or other cyclistproceeding through a green light.]
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