HERALD'S TYPICALLY ONE-SIDED VIEWPOINT OF COURIERS
November 14, 1997
Goerge Regan and other three-pieced jaywalkers are foolish hypocrites who blame their own clarelessness on the easiest target -- bike couriers. These raving crusaders (who stand in the middle of some busy downtown street shaking a fist) are exceeded in their luncacy only by the Herald's typically one-sided viewpoint.
Bike messengers must be one of the hardest-working, under-appreciated groups in the Boston work force. Yet businessmen habitually waltz out of their downtown towers and meander across the street without regard for pedestrian regulations or common courtesy. Downtown, the majority of motorists and bicyclists obey traffic rules. The majority of pedestrians don't.
Only a cynic would wonder if Regan and the kangaroo task force would have reacted in a similar manner had the victim been a homeless black man. Maybe next time he could just open his eyes, pay attention, and shut his whining trap.
Dale Lake
South Boston
MUTUAL RESPECT NEEDED FROM ALL CITY TRAVELERS
November 15, 1997
I have been commuting to the financial district on a bicycle from my home for well over three years, and have been subjected daily to a lack of respect for bicycles by vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
The demand for courtesy on the roads needs to start with pedestrians who don't jaywalk and vehicles that don't blindly deposit their passengers into traffic.
To suggest that the entire boston bicycle messenger community is a pack of outlaws and renegades because of a tragic, yet isolated incident is simply wrong ("Curbing our couriers," Nov. 13). These men and women are trying to earn a living in a city that prides itself on its bustling activity, and are doing so without adding more cars to city streets already choked with traffic. Required liability insurance, a proposed measure to "control" bicycle messengers, would only send all but the largest of these companies out of business.
What's needed is a mutual respect for all people using our roads and enforcement of traffic laws across the board, not just on a minority of people.
McLaren Brennan,
Boston
TEAMWORK IS NECESSARY TO IMPROVE BIKE SAFETY
November 17, 1997
Bicycle messengers have been an integral part of the Boston business landscape since the 1970s. They provide a necessary service to virtually every business in this city, delivering thousands of documents every day.
For some members of the business community, including your newspaper, to chastise all couriers as being hazardous and reckless is both appalling and unfair ("Curbing our couriers," Nov. 13).
We all agree that the accident that happened two weeks ago between a courier from Cambridge and a pedestrian was tragic. However, there have been serious injuries to couriers over the past 20 years due to the recklessness of motor vehicles drivers and jaywalkers, but we never heard an outcry then!
Until business leaders and the police are willing to work together with couriers and courier companies for the common good, no change in legislation will ever work.
Regina Stone, President,
Boston Bicycle Couriers, Inc.
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at messvilleto@yahoo.com